Team Possible II: City in the Sands
by King in Yellow
Summary: Reports of something in the Egyptian desert have forced Kim, Shego, and Wade into the search. None of them are on the same side, and they aren't the only ones looking. Only Global Justice plays by the rules. Best Enemies universe.
1. Whatever Happened to Leslie?

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**Whatever happened to Leslie Atwood-Long?**

In June of 1941 General Erwin Rommel smashed Operation Battleaxe, a British offensive intended to destroy the Afrika Korps, and the race towards Alexandria began. If the Egyptian city remained in British hands supplies could be brought in to keep England in North Africa. If the city fell, Egypt fell, and with it the Suez Canal -- and the thin link to British troops in Asia would be lost. Rommel failed to take the determined resistance at Tobruk into account, or Lieutenant Jasper Maskelyne and the Magic Gang who managed to hide the port of Alexandria from the Luftwaffe. Maskelyne and company would later manage to misdirect the Germans from Bernard Montgomery's preparations for Operation Lightfoot, but in the summer of 1941 Britain's ability to hold Egypt appeared in serious doubt. British troops dug in for an attack, and in the process discovered a cache of writings by the third century theologians Origen and Didymus the Blind -- buried centuries earlier after the pair had been declared heretics in the 7th century.

Less known were the British efforts to find routes for strategic retreat, should Rommel prove successful. While British Palestine represented the obvious direction for retreat its very obviousness made it dangerous. A number of small units, usually a handful of jeeps in each, were sent to scout possible retreat routes if the Germans could not be stopped, or to locate possible sources of strategic materials, such as water, or locations of military values. One ill-fated group found nothing of strategic value as they pushed into uncharted portions of the rocky eastern desert. But they produced a report which brought their intelligence into question. They reported all their vehicles dying at the same point. It was as if a vehicle lost all its electrical power. A second jeep had driven towards the first to give it a jump, but had died at the same point, as did a third, and fourth. As the fifth edged slowly forward it also died. Compasses did not work, nor did the field radios to contact their unit. After several hours working on the engines, and never getting a spark, a private from the Bow Bells district of London suggested pushing a jeep back over to where the vehicles had been working. While the lieutenant in charge ridiculed the idea two sturdy privates pushed back the fifth jeep, which started immediately. The radios also began working again once they had left whatever mysterious region they had trespassed. Muscle, ropes, and chains enabled the unit to recover all vehicles and get back to base. They were roundly ridiculed as incompetent mechanics

It was the report of that scouting unit which forever changed the life of Leslie, who had never quite forgiven his parents for not realizing the name had slipped from the male to the female domain, Atwood-Long. An Oxbridge historian had stumbled across report of the bad-luck patrol while researching for a book on Maskelyne and company. He found the account interesting, even though it contributed nothing to his own project. He photocopied the report, but forgot all about it for a couple years. While reviewing his research to correct galley proofs of _The Magic Gang_ he stumbled across the photocopy and brought it up with a colleague in the geology department. The geologist theorized a huge magnetite deposit, or perhaps iron ore that held a large charge of electrical energy as the most likely cause for the anomaly. Allanite deposits were also known in the eastern desert, although the radioactive material should not effect electro-magnetic fields. The mystery stayed with him and he recommended Leslie, a student in need of a topic for his doctoral dissertation, research the phenomenon.

Leslie Atwood-Long accepted the idea with relish as it provided him an excuse to avoid yet another beastly English winter. The old army report didn't furnish him with exact coordinates, but he remained cheerfully optimistic about his own abilities. He did his initial reconnaissance on a dirt bike, small enough he could push it out of the area of the anomaly if he located it.

Egypt's inner desert, the land just beyond the fertile ribbon of the Nile, was well known. For many centuries ascetics and others at the margin of society dwelt there – literally on the margin of civilization. The more forbidding outer desert beyond the inner desert defended the land of the pharaohs from invasions from either the east or west for eons. Les, as he was known to his friends, had a good idea why as he explored wadis and few relatively flat areas in the area in which he conducted his research. The western desert is largely sand, with the occasional oasis to make life bearable. The eastern desert is largely outcroppings of rock, and even less hospitable. But Atwood-Long maintained his stiff upper lip and persevered.

He called friends and family from Cairo to say he had located the perimeter of the anomaly, and that it appeared vastly larger than he had expected. He planned to return and discover the source of the anomaly, and hoped it wouldn't take long. Following that glowing announcement he disappeared. If the earth had opened up and swallowed Leslie Atwood-Long he could not have been more silent. Concerned family and friends contacted the British Embassy, who contacted Egyptian officials, who contacted local authorities, who knew nothing. His family feared he had been killed or taken hostage by the Muslim Brotherhood.

In a cheap novel the sole survivor of a lost expedition would have stumbled out of the desert and died as he gasped out his discovery to a startled world. In reality Leslie arrived back in Cairo more than two months after he had set out, but he said little. He applied to the Egyptian government for an excavation permit. When pressed by Egyptian officials about where he had been he remained adamantly vague about his exact location in the outer dessert. When the Egyptian government retaliated by being equally stubborn in releasing a dig permit Leslie promised, "After I tell the world what I've seen you'll beg me to lead an expedition back."

"That's not a threat, is it?"

"No, that's a promise. What I've found is more incredible than Tut."

He realized he should never have made that comment. Many people looked at the tomb of Tutankhamun only in terms of the gold buried there. He felt almost certain someone followed him back to his hotel, and couldn't escape the feeling of being watched until long after his return to England.

Back at Oxbridge he began quiet conversations with individuals in different departments, and vague rumors about his discovery began to circulate on the internet. His contact with the Classics Department yielded a number of references Leslie found significant as he prepared his dissertation and report. Cuneiform texts from Sumer mentioned a temple with silver gates in the Egyptian dessert. The most complete version of the Pyramid Texts contained a reference to the gates of the underworld in the outer desert on the east of the Nile. The Greek historian Herodotus made reference to a city built entirely of silver lost in the desert, but he loved gossip. The Roman natural historian, Pliny the Elder, claimed to have talked with a man who had seen the entrance to an underground city. But while the metal had looked like silver it was harder and could not be cut by iron tools. In the life of St Anthony, by Athanasius of Alexandria, the father of monasticism had stumbled across the entrance to hell on his travels in the desert. The various later references to the gates of Hell in early Christian literature seemed to derive from the Life of Anthony. A 16th century Arab trader claimed to have lost his bearings in a sand storm. After the storm passed his compass failed and his caravan almost perished before they were able to find their way out.

Since 1942 four aircraft had been lost in the approximate area, the wreckage of only one of which had been recovered. Some searchers reported equipment failures during their efforts to locate the missing aircraft.

Atwood-Long found the ideal venue to announce his discovery to the world, a conference on extraterrestrial life held in New York. While the conference attracted a variety of crackpots and conspiracy buffs it also hosted some of the leading scientists in astrophysics, astronomy, and other serious disciplines. Rumors of Leslie's discovery earned him a spot as featured speaker on an evening panel the second day of the conference.

Drew Lipsky knew enough about extraterrestrials to skip the conference. Wade Load had enough contacts to obtain special tickets for a reception the first evening and a reserved seat for Atwood-Long's presentation. He also wrangled passes for Jim and Tim to attend the presentation.

The twins, by choice, attended some of the wackier sessions the first day while Wade hit the more serious lectures. Jim and Tim did some sightseeing in the evening while Wade attended the reception. It was easy to spot Atwood-Long at the reception, the crowd around him was almost half large as the one for Stephen Hawkins. Wade couldn't manage to ask any questions of the British geologist, but stayed close enough to listen in to his discussions. If Leslie could produce even half of what he promised it would dominate discussion in the scientific community for years to come.

Wade went to bed happy for the first time since his breakup with Joss. He had a reason to look forward to the next day.

Morning of the second day dawned with rumors that Atwood-Long had disappeared during the night. Many of those repeating the story took the position that his wild claims were bogus and he decided to run rather than attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of real scientists. Wade knocked on the twins' door after breakfast. "Who is it?" Jim complained.

"It's me, Wade. Can I come in?"

"Hold on, let me get the door."

"I heard Atwood-Long is gone," he told them. He turned to Tim, "Anything on the police band?"

Tim turned on his scanner. "Probably part of his hoax," Jim suggested, "just trying to get people to buy his book."

"He really sounded sincere and confident last night. He was eager for the presentation this evening."

"Anyone with Drakken as a partner can't be a good judge of character," Jim scoffed.

"Yeah, and hiring you two."

"Hold on," Tim ordered. "I'm picking up the reports. His room was ransacked. Two hotel employees and a guest saw something the police now think was Atwood-Long being taken out of the building and put in a trunk before being driven off."

"Who would go to the trouble of kidnapping a loon?" Jim asked.

"No one," Wade assured him. "But if he was telling the truth then darn near everyone wants that information – and that includes me. Get your stuff together, we're going home."

"Man," Tim complained, "we just got here. Can't we stay for a while? I bet I can pick up more on the police band."

"Sorry guys, but I want all my computers. And if we can get enough information I want to locate what he found."


	2. Day 2: The Players

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

NoDrogs created the twins in _A Small Possibility_, they have a different origin in my stories.

**Day 2: The Players**

Tim monitored the news on the trip back in the hovercraft. The Brits treated the disappearance with a seriousness that said they accepted the spectacular claims from Atwood-Long. Three researchers from Oxbridge who had seen his photos and other evidence declared their belief that he had been kidnapped by someone wanting information on his discovery. But while all three swore they had seen sufficient evidence to convince them, Leslie had confided the exact location to none of them.

Jim set the hovercraft down and Wade ran in to Lipsky and Load to start his search for more information. He skidded to a halt as he passed Drakken's open door; he recognized David Donner's voice.

"I hope you and the kids can come to Egypt with us."

"It definitely sounds interesting," the blue man told him. "I'm sure they'll want to go."

Wade went in to Drakken's room and confronted the image of Donner on the monitor. "We can't go," he announced.

"But--" the Fed protested before Wade cut the connection

Drakken also protested, "But you didn't even hear what he had to say!"

"It doesn't matter what he had to say; we're going to Egypt for ourselves."

* * *

The historian who had found the old report of the British unit was interviewed on the BBC, which also managed to locate two survivors of the patrol. One of them retold the incident with the humor that the passage of more than sixty years allowed. It could not have seemed funny at the time. With the decades which had elapsed the man could not recall any details about where they had been traveling. That had been the responsibility of long-dead officers. His job had been to drive where directed.

* * *

Soon after Kim arrived at Global Justice it all hit the fan. Betty Director called Kim to her office, "You aren't going home tonight. I'm not sure when you'll be going home. And can you twist Ron's arm and get him here - an hour ago?"

"What's happening?"

"Not entirely clear, but there is a claim of a downed UFO--"

"Huh?" Kim looked puzzled, "for Global Justice?"

"It may have been down for centuries. Someone kidnapped the one man who knows the location. Egypt has declared the site a national treasure - except that they haven't found it. The UN says it should belong to the world, and Egypt wants Global Justice to accompany the expedition. I want you to lead."

"That's really big. I--"

"You won't do it alone. I want you and Will as a team."

"He and I don't--"

"Consider that an order. You can argue later - and you won't win. But at the moment I need you to get a hold of Ron."

"He still has classes."

"I suspect a call from the Secretary-General of the UN and his professors will give him extensions. After you call him get Will and get back here."

* * *

Zita sat at the table with Drakken, Wade, and Jim while Tim made tea. "No way!" the Hispanic woman told them. "I won't allow you all to go off on a wild goose chase. Who will keep this place running?"

"Well," Wade reminded her, "according to you, you do that already."

"I'm the one who keeps the four of you from blowing yourselves up! I'm the one who reminds you what the contracts say, and tells you to stop goofing off and get to work. But I can't do the science magic."

"This is big, Zita," Drakken promised, caught up by Wade's enthusiasm. "If we can pull this off Lipsky and Load will have the world at our feet… World at our feet. I like the sound of that."

"I hope you're taking your medication," Zita scolded. "But there is one problem you don't seem to have considered."

"What's that?" Jim demanded.

"The four of you together don't have the survival skills of a cockroach. You can't--"

"Hey, don't sell the survival skills of a cockroach short," Tim told her, setting down cups of tea in front of her and Wade.

"You know what I mean. I could probably do it better than any of you -- and I'm not going on this loco mission."

"She's right," Tim told the other as he sat down with his own steaming cup. "We need Joss, and Bego."

"Impossible!" Wade protested.

"Then your idea is impossible," Jim said, seconding Tim.

Drakken weighed in, "They're right. What did you do to Joss that she won't speak to you?"

"I won't talk about it."

"Then you can give up the plan," Jim said.

"Could we do it with just Bego?" Tim suggested.

"No," Wade assured him. "Bego can't go on this… Or at least she can't do any searching. Whatever we're looking for would kill her."

"Oh, there's a great incentive," Drakken muttered.

"We have to try!" Wade insisted.

"Not without Joss," Jim told him, and Tim and Drakken nodded in agreement.

"Loco. You're all loco," Zita added.

Wade took a let breath, and let it out, "Okay, we have to have Joss. She won't talk to me. Tim? Will you talk with her? Promise her anything, _anything_. We have to try this."

Drakken opened a package of Pixie Scout Muffins and they discussed planning for the trip Zita doubted would ever happen.

* * *

In Moscow Dmitr received further orders. He knew Gregori from other assignments and considered the man a borderline psychopath. Regretfully that might be exactly what this mission called for. He didn't know Misha or Vlad, but they received top marks in their training. Boris and Joseph were old friends, he could trust them with his life. Dmitr smiled at the thought. In point of fact he was. If the Englishman was right and there was a spaceship in the Egyptian desert it must be Russia that found it first.

* * *

Quon had no idea why he and the other men had been told to board the plane to Sudan. From the little conversation he had with them it appeared they were also from elite military units, and he felt a small sense of pride at holding the highest rank among them. He also felt unease. He was told the Chinese embassy in Khartoum would have his orders. If he was to command the three Changs, Jun, Liang, and Enlai he would like a much better sense of what they were doing and why, along with reassurances they would have the resources necessary for the task. He breathed a silent prayer to the joss his superstitious mother had kept hidden in the kitchen. There would be honor in commanding a mission, but under the circumstances he hoped the embassy would supply the little group with another commander.

* * *

Shego found voice mail from Kim after her eleven o'clock class. "I'm running away from home - and I'm taking Ron with me. Seriously, I've been sent to… I don't know if I can tell you or not. And I don't know how long I'll be gone. Kiss the girls for me and tell them Mommy loves them. I'll call later if I know more."

"Bloody hell," Shego muttered. She considered calling Kim back - but figured her partner would have called again if she knew more. Instead she called home and caught Ron.

"Hey, gotta run," he told her.

"Can you tell me what's gong on?"

"If I tell you nothing I'm telling you everything I know."

"But you're going any way?"

"Best friends forever… I'm really glad I fell in love with Bonnie. Living with Kim could be a pain."

Shego sighed, "Bring her home safe. I've got to figure out child care."

Shego's cell phone went off a couple hours later while she was in C2K with the Legal Lesbians. She pulled out the phone to ask Kim what was going on, then noticed the ID, 'Private name, private number,' and felt a weight compress her stomach. She hurled a final, "You're wrong," at the man she was debating, "but I've got to take this."

"Ha! Anything to avoid admitting I'm right."

But Shego had already left. "Yes?" she asked when she found a spot where she would not be overheard.

"Got a mission, you're needed." She recognized David Donner's voice.

"You can--"

"And you can remember why you're not in prison. You need to be in Washington by one tomorrow afternoon."

"But I've got classes to finish. I can't--"

"Yes, you can. Two of your profs are giving you A's. A professor Fowler says you had some trouble at the start of the semester, but will give you a B. And a professor Stetson--"

"Stilson, his name is Stilson. And he makes you look like Robin Williams."

"I hated professors like that. Anyway, he's giving you an incomplete. Says you have to take the final exam before the fall semester starts."

"Can you tell me what this is about?"

"Can't tell you a blessed thing, not 'til later."

"Can you at least tell me what to pack?"

"Not a thing. We'll supply all the equipment."

She started to grumble and his voice turned serious, "Look, this may be a hoax. Or it may be the biggest thing in the history of the world. Most likely it's a hoax, but it's too big to ignore."

"Tomorrow at one?"

"Yeah. My office."

* * *

When Tim spoke to Joss that evening it appeared they would not be going on the trip.

"No," she said flatly.

"This is big, Joss, huge. You'll be in history books if we pull this off."

"No!"

"Can. you. tell. me. more. about. it?" Bego requested. "Can. I. fill. in. for. Joss? It. sounds. exciting."

"Yeah, but from what we hear there's some sort of electro-magnetic anomaly happening. Wade's afraid it might kill you."

"Like Wade cares for anyone but Wade," Joss snorted.

"Will you tell me what's going on?" Tim requested.

"No! I don't want to see Wade again, ever! I don't want to talk with him again, ever! I--"

Joss broke down and started crying, then fled the room.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" Tim asked Bego.

"I. won't. I. think. she. has. only. talked. with. Kim. and. me. I. will. not. betray. her. trust. There. is. really. no. way. I. can. go?"

"I don't really understand what's going on. Maybe you could come part way, but we're looking for something that would be dangerous."

"We. live. on. danger," Bego reminded him, raising her hand to give him a high five.

"And leftover pizza," he finished, slapping her hand. "I don't think I've ever seen Wade so anxious. I'm worried we're going to head out and get ourselves killed. There is really no way to get Joss along?"

"Wait. here. I. will. go. talk. with her." Bego hesitated a minute before leaving, "I. think. she. still. likes. Wade. She. says. she. wants. to. hate. him, but. the. way. she. breaks. down. suggests. to. me. she. still. cares."

"So, that will make it easier to get her to sign on?"

"I. am. afraid. it. may. make. it. harder."

Bego left to talk with Joss and Tim went to the family room to talk with his father and watch television.

While Tim watched television with his father the phone rang. Anne Possible picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Anne?"

"Sharon?"

"An emergency has come up. Global Justice just sent Kim on some mission, and she apparently drafted Ron. And I've just been called to--"

"Global Justice also?"

"Global Justice wants nothing to do with me. I can't tell you what I'm going to be doing… Hell, I don't even know myself right now, but I'm not sure how long I'm going to be gone. The--"

"The twins?"

"Exactly. I'm assuming you're too busy to watch them, so I've called my Mom and she's flying in tomorrow evening to stay here. But can you pick them from day care tomorrow and watch them until she gets in?"

"No problem, just give me Susan's flight information and I'll take them out to the airport with me tomorrow to meet her."

"Thanks, Anne! Can you give her house keys?"

As Shego gave the flight information to Kim's mother Bego found Tim in the television room and asked him to come up to Kim's old room.

Joss's eyes were red, but she appeared composed. "You're really stupid enough to go on this without me?"

"Probably," he grinned. "I'm not sure what it's all about, but I don't think it's any crazier than other stuff we've done."

"I don't want you and Jim killed. Drakken either… Here's my offer, I'll go with you - but you tell Wade he won't speak to me lessen I speak to him first. And he stays ten feet or more away from me if'n it's possible. That clear?"

"Very."

"When we goin'? It's a couple a weeks until school's out."

"Uh, well, Jim figured you couldn't turn me down. He's hacked into the school's computer and given you an excused absence."

"And. you. two. are. skipping. classes. at. the. U?"

Tim grinned, "Like we need an excuse?"

Joss had a concern, "Will we be back in time for graduation?"

"I really don't know."

"Can. he. get. me. excused. also?"

"You can't go," Joss reminded her, "it's dangerous!"

"There. must. be. something. I. can. do. and. I. won't. let. you. have. all. the. fun."

Joss squeezed her sister's hand, "Thanks," she said quietly.

* * *

Having been heavily sedated Leslie Atwood-Long slept through his flight to Egypt. He preferred to sleep on long plane flights. But had he been conscious he could have wished for different circumstances.


	3. Day 3: Land of the Pharaohs

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. All registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**Day 3: Land of the Pharaohs**

Kim and Will had planned with Betty Director until late afternoon, and then spent the evening into the early morning hours arguing with each other about what supplies they needed, how to make a decision if they disagreed on a point, who would draft the final report - and how much editing the other would be allowed. From there it degenerated even further into the fact Kim lived with a felon and questions about whether Will could be a decent father. (Not that Will was likely to become a father in the near future. His wife had made it clear she would finish her MBA first. But in the heat of the 'discussion' Kim insisted he should do the world a favor by getting 'fixed' rather than bringing children into the world and generously offered to perform the necessary surgery right then, for free.)

Ron had stretched out on a section of floor in Kim's tiny office and gone to sleep. Kim woke him so they could share a motel room close to headquarters.

"You could have just left me on the floor," he yawned.

"You'll sleep better in a real bed." Kim glanced at her watch, "The girls have been in bed for hours. Is it too late to call Shego?"

"Would you want her to call you before she left the country?"

"Yes."

"Then call her."

"Wha?" Shego answered the phone.

"Love you, you're wonderful. Sorry to leave you with the kids."

"Kim?"

"Someone else leaves you with kids? Just how many kids do you have?"

"Not funny, I was asleep."

Kim's voice turned serious, "I'm sorry to wake you. But Ron and I are leaving the country early tomorrow. I'm not sure when we'll be home."

"We'll miss you."

"Take good care of my girls."

Shego neglected to mention she was leaving the country herself.

Kim didn't sleep well, spending too much of the night thinking of things she should have said to Will.

Ron and a tired Kim were back at Global Justice early the next day.

Since Ron didn't plan on working for the organization he neglected to display the discipline regular agents would have shown to Dr. Director.

"Hey, what's the plan - and why am I here"

Betty reached over and pinched his cheek, "You've been drafted. We need that Ron Factor edge. As the luckiest human being on earth I want you along."

"Can you tell me a little more than Kim gave me," Ron requested.

"Did you hear the news report of a missing Englishman, Leslie Atwood-Long?"

"Not really."

"Well, he claimed he had discovered something in Egypt. A crashed spaceship, if he can be believed. It appears someone believes him."

"But there's a chance it's a hoax, right?"

"It probably is a hoax, but we can't take the risk."

"What I can't figure out," Ron asked, "is why Kim and Will, _together_."

Betty sighed, "Kim plays nicely with other children. The Egyptians are officially in charge of this and, in theory, we are only there to support them. Some of the highest GJ operatives refused to work under Egyptian command. I'm trusting Kim to maintain cooperation with the Egyptians, motivate our agents, and maybe apply some of her intuition to the search." Betty turned to Kim, "But you don't understand protocols and procedures. This might be the highest profile mission Global Justice will ever tackle. You are green, and I can't have you embarrassing us with a rookie error. Will can provide the areas of expertise you lack. I wish I could put the two of you together in one person."

"So, think you'd love Shego or Monique if she could?" Ron whispered.

Kim ignored him. "Any idea how long this may take? "

"There is no way to know for certain. Hopefully we can establish this is a hoax or find what we're looking for fairly soon. But you will be there for the duration. Will is eager to get started. You may have extremely limited outside contact after you hit Egypt, call anyone you need to now."

* * *

At the Russian embassy in Cairo Dmitr briefed the men who would be going into the anomaly with him, as well as their support team. From his own briefing it was apparent the logistics of keeping the group supplied in the field might be the most crucial element. It was certain to limit the size of the force the Egyptian Army and Global Justice could put into the field. Given the circumstances he doubted they would put more than fifty, all told, into the desert. If the Russians could just avoid the Egyptians and Global Justice the edge they held should insure Russia obtained the prize.

* * *

Before they boarded the plane Will approached Kim, "Monique informed me that I must apologize to you for all remarks concerning your relationship with Shego, all questions in regard to your intellectual capacity, and the comments in reference to your table manners. I am sorry for anything I said in the heat of anger yesterday." _"But your table manners still need work."_

"That's okay, Will. I'm really stressed about this mission and shouldn't have taken it out on you. I apologize for calling you an anal-retentive, uptight little… um, and those other things I said. And for doubting you'll be a good father someday." _ "But I thought of some good jokes about how repressed you are that I'm going to tell when you're not around."_

"Apology accepted," Will said and the two shook hands.

* * *

In Khartoum Quon felt anything but happy. While China possessed considerable political clout in Sudan their power in Egypt was less. While the assistant ambassador to Sudan promised to accompany the group and arrange logistical support Quon found no reassurances in his words. The Party had made many promises to his village over the decades and none had ever been fulfilled. But the ambassador also promised that China possessed an edge which would help them succeed before the Egyptians could locate what they were looking for.

* * *

Kim recognized most of the other agents on the flight. A few, like LaTisha Jackson, resented the younger woman being in charge. With the exception of LaTisha and Will, who would have liked to lead the mission by himself, those who knew Kim well didn't mind her joint command and only the newer agents thought her position an error. Then the redhead noticed Agent Haskell, trying to sleep. She assumed he didn't like her command position, but Haskell didn't seem like anything at Global Justice, and was the most disliked man in the organization. Why he stayed on was a mystery to her. She felt more surprise to find her former faculty adviser, Dr. Kemal, on the plane.

"You're going with us?" Kim asked.

He simply rolled his eyes.

"You know what I mean. The fact you're on the plane doesn't mean you're going into the field with us."

"I will be," Mustapha told her. "Most of the Egyptian officers speak decent English, but Betty still thought a GJ translator might prove helpful."

"She warned me no to embarrass Global Justice, can we stay close so you can whisper anything I need to know?"

"I will try," he promised. "But remember, I'm a Turk. You will be dealing with Arabs. I can miss nuances too. For example, I should give you a word of warning. A lot of them don't see themselves as Arabs. They regard themselves as Egyptians. Always call them Egyptians, just to be safe." He smiled at her, "I do not think you will need my help. Nor do I need to wish you luck, you are a very resourceful and capable young woman - you will do well."

"Thanks. Do you have any idea where we're heading?"

"Not really. Mr. Atwood-Long was definitely in Asyut, The British report placed the patrol--"

"Asyut? What patrol? I don't know any of this."

The translator shook his head, "Did Betty give you a dossier to read?"

"Yeah. Haven't a chance to look at it yet."

"You need to read it. Asyut is a good sized town, Mr. Atwood-Long was definitely there. The Egyptians are scouring villages in the area for anyone with more information. Whatever he encountered seems to have been in the muhafazat of Al Bahr al Ahmar."

"The who of what?"

"The government district of the Red Sea, just west of the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea. Thousands of square kilometers of nothing. I think a capable and resourceful young woman should read her dossier."

"I think you're right. I'll tell Ron not to disturb me. I may try to take a nap while we're in flight too."

"Good idea," Dr. Kemal agreed, reclining his own seat back and closing his eyes.

In the back of the plane 'Jake' Jacobi had produced a pair of dice and had a low stakes game of craps going. Will Du was too busy trying to contact Monique to break up the game and Kim found Ron in the back of the plane. Somehow the old agent had roped Ron in to the game, and Ron was shooting when Kim arrived.

"Hey, KP, it's a great game. Want a turn? I'm up almost fifteen dollars."

"Take the kid with you," Jake growled, "I've never seen anyone so lucky."

"You invite him to play?" Kim demanded.

Jake nodded his head yes. Kim smiled, "He's all yours."

Will watched Kim as she sat down and opened her dossier. He had just finished a long a talk with Monique and felt as happy as he could feel, not knowing how long it would be until he could be with her again. Kim was really an asset to Global Justice, he told himself he simply resented her smug self-confidence given her relative lack of experience. He sighed, and also admitted that he envied the easy camaraderie she had with the other agents, something he lacked despite having worked there much longer.

Part way through the first page Kim realized why Will had raised some of the equipment issues yesterday. He had been right. His detached air of superiority always rankled her and made her want to contradict him. She needed to get over it. Monique told her that under his supercilious demeanor Will was really a loving, tender person. Even if Kim had not seen it herself she believed her friend. Kim also knew that she would never be able to focus on the bureaucratic minutiae that Will thrived on. While she intellectually recognized the importance of procedures and forms she craved action. In fact, Kim realized with a start, she had let her mind wander and tried again to focus on the dossier.

* * *

At Lipsky and Load the men loaded one hovercraft and waited impatiently for Joss and Bego. The two had insisted on attending class to say good-bye to friends in case they missed the graduation ceremony.

Wade wasn't sure what to think. He'd not seen Joss in weeks and wasn't sure if fear, or shame, or a longing to see her was the strongest emotion he felt. It would be hard to keep the rules Tim said he had to keep, but he knew he had to.

* * *

"Okay, what's going on?" Shego demanded when she reached Donner's office.

"Have a little operation in Egypt, you'll be second in command."

"I work better alone," she grumbled. "I don't like people telling me what to do. What idiot do I have to kiss up to?"

"That would be me."

"You're going on this?"

"Yeah, I'm in charge."

"There's a recipe for disaster."

"This is big," Donner assured her, "and important."

"And you want me? Wait, what do you mean, second in command?"

"This will be a very small, elite unit. We're looking for something in Egypt. If it's there the US wants it."

"I'm still not clear on this."

"Well, officially, the US won't be there. This is strictly covert. There are six men under me, Special Ops pairs. But I suspect most of them respect brute force more than brains. So I want you there as my enforcer."

"Great," Shego whined, "I'm nothing but hired muscle."

"Well, you sure as hell aren't there for your personality. If we find what we're looking for you also get to help with the greatest theft in your life - but you won't be able to tell anyone about it."

* * *

Leslie Atwood-Long decided he could live with a little pain. There was a stubborn streak in him which refused to be cowed. Further, they could not inflict too much pain on him if they expected him to guide them in the desert. And, if he should reveal everything he knew, there was a strong chance they might decide they didn't need him any longer. They had to keep him alive, and couldn't damage him too badly, as long as he knew more than his captors. Leslie could definitely live with a little pain.

* * *

Wade flew the second hovercraft, with the supplies, while the other five rode in the first craft. Knowing he would see Joss every day was sweet agony. He wondered if he could invent a time machine and go back and stop himself in time to keep the breakup from happening. He should beat himself bloody for what he did.

They landed in Spain and Tim offered to join Wade and give him a rest on the final leg to Egypt.

A high tech firm which did business with Lipsky and Load provided them a secure landing site in Cairo. Bego stayed with the hovercraft to guard them as the others caught as much sleep as they could. While she also required rest she could maintain some awareness during the process, and 'awaken' more easily.

* * *

David Donner and Shego were the only two passengers in their small, military aircraft. "Where are the others?" she asked.

"They'll meet us in Cairo or onboard."

"Onboard what? Can you tell me anything about where we're going?"

Donner hesitated for moment, "Hell, may as well be honest with you. I've got no real idea. US Navy has a presence in the Red Sea. You and I land in Cairo, we'll pick up some supplies and maybe some of our group, and then fly out to the Red Sea. We'll infiltrate from there. There's something happening that's supposed to knock out electrical systems. With my luck we'll fly straight into it."

"Sounds wonderful," Shego mused grimly.

"Tell, me about it. But I hear we have an edge in the race to find whatever we're looking for.

The two reached Cairo very late in the day. "I got people to see," he told her. "I advise you to get some sleep."

"Should I go with you? If I'm number two I'd like to know what we're doing."

"No," he told her too quickly. "You don't have clearance."

"I don't have clearance? I'm number two and I don't have clearance?"

He sighed, "Look, this might be huge. I doubt if there are five people who know the whole plan - and I may not even be one of them--"

"Zach may be holding out on you."

"Maybe. With Zach you never know."

"You intelligence guys are fucking nuts, you know that."

"Yeah, well knowledge is power and we're sure as hell not sharing any power we don't have to."

Shego shook her head in disgust, "Great into the desert with six muscle-bound morons and a guy afraid to tell me what time it is."

"Look, I'll tell you whatever I think you need to know. But I--"

"But you think there's a great deal I don't need to know, right?"

He nodded.

"You know, if there's even any talk of hurting anyone from Global Justice those burns I gave you will seem like nothing," she said grimly.

His lips tightened, "No interest in harming anyone from Global Justice or the Egyptian Army. But it's finders keepers if something's there and we can get it first."

* * *

Team Possible II, as Jim and Tim preferred to call the Lipsky and Load crew, all climbed into one hovercraft the next morning for a fast reconnaissance. Everyone told Bego to stay behind, but she insisted they needed her. "Besides. if. you. are. in. the. air. and. fly. into. the. anomaly. the. crash. will. kill. you. all. We. will. all. go. together. if. we. go."

"You're a ton of fun, you know that," Jim grumbled.

It turned out that Bego provided them with an insight into the anomaly other groups would miss.

"Oh. my. gosh," she softly exclaimed as they followed the Nile south.

"What?" Drakken demanded.

Joss took Bego's hand, in order to see through the eyes of her metal sister. "Wow!" was all she managed

The rest waited anxiously for more details, but Joss and Bego remained in silent awe of whatever the two of them alone could see. "If we threw you both out of here, right now, the jury would call it justifiable homicide," Jim warned them.

"Give me the controls," Joss ordered Tim. As she slipped into the pilot's chair Bego stood behind her, touching Joss's neck so contact was maintained.

"There. is. like. a. pillar. of. glurplish. light. extending. up. into. the. sky," Bego told the others.

"Glurplish?"

"Definitely glurplish," Joss agreed.

"I. can. see. colors. the. human. eye. can. not. see," she reminded them. "Joss. and. I. have. had. to. name. some. them. This. looks. sort. of. like. glurple."

The surprises weren't over. After they had flown awhile longer Joss suddenly stopped the craft in midair. "What's going on?" Jim asked.

"Think it's the anomaly? Joss asked.

"That. would appear. to. be. a. very. safe. guess."

"Well, we sure as heck got the jump on anyone else," Joss crowed.


	4. Day 4: Rocky Road

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

A Markov helped with this chapter.

**Day 4: Rocky Road**

"Damn it, what do you see!" Jim demanded, exasperated at the silence from Joss and Bego.

"It. is. like. a. huge. shallow. dome. Huge, really. huge. The. beacon. may. go. up. from. the. middle--"

"May go up from the middle?" Tim interrupted.

"It's so big it's hard to tell," Joss murmured, "it's miles an' miles 'round. It's like some gigantic fleam dome."

"Fleam?" Drakken asked.

"Fleam?" Bego seconded.

"My turn to name a new color. I sure as heck haven't seen nothing like that before, have you?"

"No," Bego admitted, "that. is. a brand. new. one. for. me. Fleam. it. is. But. we. should. verify. whether. it. is. the. anomaly. or. not."

Joss cautiously put the hovercraft down.

"So, are we in the field?" Jim asked.

"Don't be stupid," Joss snapped. "I'm not lettin' Bego down anywhere near that thing 'til we know what we're dealin' with." She pointed in the direction they had been traveling and told Jim, "Walk in that direction. Let out a holler as soon as your watch stops." Joss held Bego's hand so that she could see where the edge of the fleam area began.

Wade, Drakken, and Tim watched in fascination, wondering what would happen. Jim stared at his watch and walked in the direction indicated. "Have I hit it yet?" he called at eighty yards.

"I told ya, I didn't want Bego to get too close. Keep walkin'."

Seconds later Jim called, "Watch stopped!"

"You. are. right. at. the. edge. of. what. we. can. observe," Bego yelled. "It. looks. like. I. can. move. a. little. closer."

"Please don't," Joss requested.

"What now?" Drakken wanted to know.

Wade added his opinion, "I think we ought to fly around the entire area…" He turned to Bego, "Can you see how far it extends?" She shook her head 'no'. "We need to see how much area it covers and maybe see if we can spot any points where traveling might be easier."

"Just how high is this fleam dome?" Tim wondered, wishing he had the ability to see what his cousins saw.

"A. hundred. and. fifty. to. two. hundred. yards. deep. is. my. estimate."

"Could we fly the hovercraft over it? Get right over the source of the beacon?"

"Not gonna risk it," Joss told him emphatically. "Get a couple hundred yards up in the air and hope the field doesn't kill the hovercraft? We need to go on Wade's scoutin' expedition." She didn't like the fact Wade was right. She should have demanded he couldn't talk at all in her presence at all - it hurt too much. She should have never let Bego talk her into this. The only possible consolation she had was the hope he felt as miserable and unhappy as she did, but she couldn't imagine anyone feeling as wretched as she felt.

Bego took the pilot's seat.

"It's huge," Drakken muttered as Bego flew them around the field.

"Told. you." Bego pointed out.

"I can't really tell how close we are--" Wade started.

"Too close," Joss interrupted, "I don't like Bego bein' so close to that… whatever." She shouldn't have spoken to him, and resolved not to make the mistake again.

"But," Wade continued looking at instruments in the hovercraft, "it looks like the radius is close to twenty miles. That would make the perimeter around a hundred and twenty miles long - and around twelve hundred square miles of desert for the area."

"But no one else has Bego's eyesight," Jim pointed out. "That's got to give us a big edge."

"But she can't go in with us," Joss reminded him.

On the western edge of the anomaly they found where the Egyptian army planned to stage its entrance - in the vicinity of the village where Atwood-Long purchased supplies. There was enough noise and confusion on the ground the Team wasn't worried about anyone seeing the bugs in the hovercraft's light bending abilities or hearing it. A few miles south of the Egyptian and Global Justice staging area they noticed a small group heading into the field.

"Egyptians?" Tim asked.

"Don't think so," Jim said, putting down the binoculars he had trained on the men. He would have liked to get closer, but didn't know where the anomaly began and, in the stillness of the desert, he worried the sound of the hovercraft motors might warn whatever group he saw of their presence.

On the eastern edge of the anomaly they noticed a downed helicopter. "Recent too," Jim said, looking through the binoculars.

Joss expressed concern for the pilot, "I hope no one was hurt,"

"Hardly any damage, looks like it couldn't have fallen more than a few feet… Got some men working in the area too."

"Working? What. are. they. doing?"

"Probably same thing we're doing," Wade answered.

Having scouted the entire perimeter Team Possible II found a point a dozen miles north of the Egyptian staging area to make their own entrance. Being able to see the field they could pilot a craft closer to the anomaly than anyone else, which gave them an edge in scouting the territory, but given the rough terrain Bego and Joss couldn't see as far into the area as they would have liked.

Bego set the hovercraft down fifty yards from the field for a strategy planning session. Jim grabbed a case of electrical equipment and headed for the anomaly.

"Skipping the planning session?" Tim called.

"You know I'll just disagree with you all. I want to see if I can get anything to work in there - maybe with some shielding we can use our stuff," Jim shouted back.

"I. suggest. I. handle. supplies," Bego offered. "I. can. buy. them. anywhere. and. fly. them. here. Then. I. either. hire. someone. to. bring. them. part. way. to. you. via. camel. or. leave. them. here. at. the. edge."

"That works," Wade nodded. "Jim, Tim, and I will lay out a perpendicular line to the edge here. I don't know how well we can travel in a straight line to the center, but it will give us a sense of how to start."

"I need to go back to Cairo with Bego and get equipment from the other hovercraft. Round trip may take about four hours," Drakken said. "Anyone want to go with us, or stay here and do a little exploring?"

"Wade's got Jim and me tapped for the geography lesson," Tim reminded him. He turned to his cousin, "Joss?"

"I'd like to start scoutin' in there. Get a sense 'a what we're gonna be up against."

"Don't take any risks," Drakken warned, pulling a small medical kit out of a panel at the side of the craft and passing it to her. "I purchased some anti-venom for some of the things we might find in there, but that's with the medical supplies in Cairo. This stuff is just the basics."

"I promise to be good," Joss laughed. She decided she would not go in as far as she initially thought. There were enough legitimate risks in this mission that she didn't need to add more.

As Wade, Tim, and Joss got out of the craft Jim yelled, "This sucks!"

"What's the problem?" Joss called.

"Nothing works! It's like sticking a burning match under water. Once you hit the edge of this thing everything goes dead!"

"I've got a couple ideas for shielding, let's try them after we figure out the direction to the center."

"Can you do that without me?" Tim asked.

"A whole lot easier to do it with you. Why not help?"

"I'd better go in with Joss, be her backup."

"I don't need backup," Joss protested. "You're more like to get hurt than me."

"Tim's right," Wade pointed out. "We just started this. We need to be careful."

Joss was in no mood to argue with Wade. She hated hearing his voice, especially when he was right. "Fine," she snapped. "Come on," she told her cousin and the two of them walked into the field she could no longer see. At least she would be away from Wade.

* * *

Betty Director had two goals in mind when she appointed Kim to a position of leadership in the Egyptian mission.

Kim performed poorly on the first task. The redhead, accustomed to going out, doing what needed to be done, and coming home, grew impatient at what seemed the glacial pace of planning. She thought they should have headed for the desert immediately. Betty Director hoped that Kim would learn the value of logistics and planning ahead instead of her usual tendency to rely on intuition and act immediately. But while Kim failed to appreciate what she should have learned her enthusiasm was infectious, encouraging others to overcome problems and get the project started

On her second task, keeping Global Justice agents and the Egyptian army cooperating with each other, Kim outperformed Will. While Will grumbled at what he saw as inefficiencies in the Egyptian chain of command and procurement process Kim accepted and worked with the General in over-all command, and the Colonel who would lead the Egyptians in the field. Plans called for a hundred Egyptian soldiers, a number of auxiliary personnel and twenty GJ agents in the field. The general told her that, given the terrain, the support staff keeping them supplied would outnumber the group in the field several times over.

The general wanted at least a week to get supply lines established. Kim pointed that whoever kidnapped Atwood-Long might have found the site, looted it, and be gone in a week. Colonel Abbas backed Kim and the General reluctantly agreed to start the project the next day, warning that there might be snags in the supply lines at first.

While the General worked on logistics Will arranged for Colonel Abbas and some of the auxiliary personnel to meet the Global Justice agents at High Tea in the late afternoon. Will scored points with Dr. Director by combining it with a press conference to highlight the cooperation of Global Justice with Egypt.

"High Tea?" Kim asked in disbelief.

"A left-over from when the English ran the place," Dr. Kemal explained. "Most of them probably wouldn't mind a Stella, but in theory Muslims aren't supposed to drink. Tea is safer."

"Stella?"

"Local beer, not bad actually."

Kim smiled and decided not to ask if he knew that from experience or only by its reputation.

Will introduced the Colonel to the Global Justice personnel and the press. Then Colonel Abbas introduced three archaeologists from the Council on Antiquities who would accompany the mission, two skeptical scientists who resented being sent into the desert, and Dr. Alawi Farouk. Will returned to the microphone and addressed those gathered for the conference, and the journalists began to interview other people in the room after a couple minutes of hearing Will drone on. There were also politicians who attended the meeting for various reasons - from real curiosity about the mission to public relations for government officials who wanted to present a positive image of modern Egypt to the world community.

LaTisha Jackson didn't pay much attention during the introductions. Afterwards she chatted with a handsome man she thought was one of the journalists, probably from a US paper given the fact he sounded American.

"They're sending an Egyptian doctor with us," LaTisha scoffed. "Probably try and cure us with camel dung and readings from the Qu'ran. I won't let one of these camel jockeys treat me."

The man she was talking with did not seem amused. "The desert is the home to the Egyptian cobra, horned viper, and the saw scaled viper - which is as deadly as the cobra. Scorpions are plentiful also, although most stings are merely painful. Should you encounter the yellow scorpion, however, you will grateful to anyone who can supply you with anti-venom, even a camel jockey."

LaTisha realized she had stepped in it, "I take it you are…"

"Dr. Alawi Farouk, medical degree from Brown, residency at Boston General. But, should you require treatment I can make certain is done in a clumsy and painful manner to affirm your prejudices."

"I'm sorry, I--"

But Dr. Farouk turned and walked away. LaTisha kicked herself, she'd made a very poor first impression on a man she wouldn't mind giving her a physical exam.

The Egyptians had located the tiny village Atwood-Long used for supplies and planned to use it as the base for their army. Residents weren't certain if it would help the local economy or ruin it.

Given the size of the Egyptian-Global Justice expedition their preparations and base of operations were obvious. The Russians avoided the Egyptian base and picked a little village slightly further south.

* * *

A handful of intelligence officers attached to the Russian embassy in Cairo had already been out, securing supplies. They had also managed to find an edge of the area where electrical and magnetic equipment ceased to function properly. Based on their location, and the location of the Egyptian base, they figured out an approximate direction for Dmitr and company to begin their search. Mikhal, attached to the embassy staff, let the Egyptians hired to transport provisions in each day know that they would need to bring a password back from Dmitr in order to receive the promised payment. He presented the terms in such a way to make it clear that it would be very bad for the health of the Egyptians if they did not return with the password.

* * *

Shego slept later than she had expected. Donner's knock woke her up. "Kind of a late start," she mumbled.

"Had to wait for some equipment to arrive. This thing is coming together so fast it's pretty much chaos. You and I have time for breakfast, then we head for the gulf."

"You said we might have some of the Special Ops men with us…"

"Might have, but they're already on board ship. Actually, word this morning is that they may have located the edge of whatever is out there. If that's true we may be in whatever electric dead zone is out there tonight."

* * *

The Chinese rode north in two trucks. It would take them at least a day to reach a point at which they could begin their search. Most of the men regarded the assignment as a fool's errand, even if a spaceship had crashed centuries before there seemed little chance that it could still contain any technology of value. And four of the seven thought there was no space ship anyway. The combination of oppressive heat and unfamiliar food left everyone in a foul mood. As they bounced along rough roads Quon shared stories of his village with the oldest of the Changs and Jun. He feared it would be a long time before he saw it again.

* * *

By the time Drakken and Bego arrived back at the anomaly Jim and Wade had plotted a perpendicular, which should lead them to the center of the field - or would if they were able to walk in a straight line. Unfortunately the rough ground meant it was impossible to travel in a straight line. They had aligned their perpendicular with a rock outcropping a couple miles inside the field and were piling up rocks to make a cairn high enough to use as a directional aid to keep them in the right direction when they reached the outcropping.

Tim and Joss had gone in about two miles and found it hard to travel. Tim suggested they find another spot to make their attempt, but Joss was of the opinion that any place they started was probably equally difficult.

Bego promised to be back with supplies the next day at one, and Wade received the job of pack mule.

"Doc. and. I. saw. a. little. village. not. too. far. away. as. we. flew. in. I. will. see. if. I. can. find. someone. who. will. help. transport. supplies. in. to. you. But. I. will. be. here. at. one. o'clock, whether. I. have. someone. to. help. me. or not."

"Jus' don't go too close to that thing," Joss reminded her, pointing in the direction of the field Bego alone could see.

"You. sound. very. much. like. mom."

"Let's move," Jim called, shouldering his pack, and the five headed into the field.

* * *

_"So far, so good,"_ Leslie Atwood-Long told himself. He might have knocked on wood, but the maneuver was impossible with his hands tied behind his back. So far his captors recognized the advantage of keeping him in good condition. He couldn't be certain if it represented a ruse of some sort of lull him into a false sense of security or if they wanted to encourage mutual cooperation. He'd given them a little information on the area where no electro-magnetic equipment worked, simply to demonstrate he had knowledge of use to them; then he shut up. Still, even under the circumstances it was exciting to be back, so close to his discovery. After spending months in Egypt the very smell of the air seemed familiar to him.

* * *

It was late afternoon when Donner and Shego landed on board ship. Two large men watched as they climbed down and moved over to intercept them, "Mr. D?"

"Yes?" Donner answered.

"Hi, I'm Stev--"

"No names!" Donner barked.

One of the men looked at the other and rolled his eyes, he shared Shego's opinion on the level of secrecy.

"Who's she?" the other grunted, indicating Shego.

"Ms. O. She is my lieutenant on this mission."

The large men figured he meant it in a general sense. Neither of the pair looked military and neither of the men looked forward to taking orders from civilians.

"Which team are you," Donner asked.

"Navy."

"Where are the others?"

"Marines are trying to get a better feel for the outline of whatever is out there--"

"We really found the… whatever?"

"Yeah, Air Force flew some choppers in real low and slow. When one went down we had a point to work from--"

"Anyone hurt?"

"No, Sir. But whatever that region is, it's big. The Army team has gone in, they're planning to set up camp for us tonight. Didn't have a lot else to do while we were waiting for you."

His tone sounded vaguely accusatory. "I had to wait for some special supplies, got some equipment to test, radio transceivers that work on different frequencies," Donner explained, "we're hoping something will work."

One SEAL shook his head, "Doubt it. Ste… My buddy and I were testing stuff all afternoon. Nothing we could find, electrical or magnetic, works in there."

_"Bloody hell!"_ "Well, we have to try, maybe we'll be lucky," Donner muttered. "I need to see the captain, where will I find him?"

"You need to see the CO on the bridge, oh-four tac one tac one twenty-two."

"What?"

The man pointed, "Go up the little metal steps there four levels, turn left and ask any sailor you find to take you by the hand and lead you to the bridge."

Donner swore under his breath and considered asking Shego to break the man's nose. "Ms O," Donner told her, "stay with them."

Shego knew the two men were laughing inside at Donner. She chose to say nothing; it was not going to be a pleasant mission. She wanted the job over so she could head home to her daughters, but realized she was starting to feel a desire to win the race to whatever might be out there. "I was told there'd be equipment here for me, where's my pack?" she asked.

"This way." She followed him to a hold.

"This isn't too bad," she noted with relief when they gave her a pack.

"Well, the Rangers carried in some gear today while we were waiting for you. It will be a lot heavier tomorrow, especially with what we're traveling through."

"Bad, huh?"

"No place for you and your 'friend'."

"He's not my friend. This is a job for me, just like it is for you."

The SEAL looked skeptical, and Shego asked for directions, in English, for any vending machines and left them.

Donner felt better after talking with the CO, but was mad he was not being kept up to date. He decided that rather than swearing at Zach or anyone else he would try to accept that things were moving too fast to keep everyone on top of developments as they happened. But they should have done more to keep him informed of the progress made the last thirty-six hours.

An hour after Donner and Shego arrived on the ship they left on a helicopter with the SEALs. Donner appeared nervous. "Don't worry," one of the SEALs told him, we won't hit the zone that kills the motor."

Shego noticed the downed helicopter near the point where the touched down. Two other large men lounged in the shade of the downed chopper and moved as the four emerged.

"Hey!" one of them called, "I'm To--"

"No names!" Donner shouted.

Shego noticed, behind Donner's back, one of the SEALs pointing a finger to his own head and making little circles in the air, the universal sign of "He's crazy."

"Which pair are you?"

"Marines, Force Reconnaissance. We've been working on figuring out the perimeter of whatever this is. The thing is big--"

"I've seen your projections. You've tried to figure out the direction we need to travel?"

"As best we can. We assume whatever causes this is in the middle of the field."

"Where's the other team?"

"The Rangers?" He glanced at his watch, the same basic mechanical watch Shego had been issued. If Donner said anything about synchronizing watches Shego planned to slug him. "We weren't sure when to expect you. They're supposed to be out in twenty minutes."

Donner turned and waved to the pilot of the helicopter which had brought them over. The man saluted and took off back to the ship.

"I wasn't sure how you made your projections," Donner admitted.

"That was the starting point," the other Reconnaissance man told him, pointing at the helicopter. "We went out from there to see where electrical equipment began to fail. Once you step back from… whatever it is, you can position where it is. We plotted about twenty positions onto the map - a couple miles in either direction from here, and they seemed fit onto a perfect circle - giving us a picture of the whole damn thing."

"Assuming, of course, that the whole thing is a perfect circle," Donner sighed. "We're dealing with something weird."

About twelve minutes later two more men came from the direction they would all be heading. One of them was as tall and large as the other four, while the other was several inches shorter than Shego, who vaguely wondered what the height requirement was for the US military.

"We don't have names," one of the Marines shouted at the Rangers as they got closer.

"What?" the larger man responded.

"We, don't have names. Probably something to do with the non-standard uniforms with no insignia and no personal items."

"This isn't a joke," Donner said coldly.

"Maybe not. But we haven't been given enough information to know exactly what it is," the small Ranger replied. "We all volunteered to serve our country. But if there's a chance we can be shot as spies we damn well want to know what this is all about."

Donner gave them all about fifteen minutes of the rumors of a spaceship. If it possessed technology which would change human history the US wanted to get it first.

"Wait, we're supposed to be stealing a space ship. Eight of us?"

"If we can find it first, we can bring in more men for hauling anything we can get out of it. But we have to find it first. If we can't find it, or this is a hoax, no one else ever needs to know about our little search."

"What about the dynamite?" a SEAL demanded.

"We're keeping all our options open," Donner said. "There are several things we might need it for. One of those is the fact Egypt and Global Justice are looking for the ship too, and there may be others. We'll destroy it before we let it fall into enemy hands."

"Global Justice is not the enemy," Shego declared.

Donner glared at her for interrupting him, "That's right, neither Global Justice nor the Egyptians are our enemies. But we don't want _anyone_, including them, to know what we're doing."

"Why are we going in now instead of morning?" Shego heard someone ask.

"Testing an NVD without an image intensifier tube, seeing if we can get around at night."

Shego felt lost, and resented feeling lost. "NVD?" she whispered to the man beside her.

"Night vision device. The standard ones require electrical enhancement of existing light, so--"

"So they're not worth squat for where we're going?"

"Right."

It turned out the goggles they were given weren't worth squat either.

"They should have tested these on someone," one man grumbled.

"They did - us," another shouted back.

"This is a rush job," Donner reminded them, "it wasn't like we had two years to get ready." He turned to one of the two Rangers who'd established the campsite they were looking for, "Much further? And any difficulties on the way?"

"We're almost there. We followed orders for the easiest possible route."

The moon, and the fact the Rangers knew where they were going, enabled the group to find the camp. Donner and Shego shared a common thought on reaching the campsite the Rangers had set up, _"Shit!"_ The camp featured four two-man tents. And since the Special Ops pairs were with their buddies it looked like the two civilians would be each be sharing quarters with one of the people they liked least in the world. Sleeping under the stars meant possible exposure to poisonous snakes and scorpions. Shego and Donner stared at each other, weighing their options.


	5. Day 5: Snow White and the 7 Dwarves

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

Current plans call for me to finish this, then complete R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Unless, of course, a some little one-shot demands to be written. I'll return to my usual working on one story at a time

**Day 5: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves**

Donner dressed and left the tent first, giving Shego some privacy. By the time she got out everyone was drinking coffee - which had been warmed just short of being hot enough on a chemical stove.

"Don't know why you get to drag a skirt along," one of the Marines from Force Reconnaissance grumbled at Donner.

Donner snorted in derision, "Ms O could beat the crap out of any of you, without breaking a sweat."

"Like hell," the jarhead grunted.

"Ms O," Donner said sweetly, "Please try not to break any bones."

"Great," Shego grumbled, "I have to flatten a moron before breakfast."

Not that the first man took any time. He outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds and, thinking that was all the edge he needed, came at her fast. Shego sidestepped his rush, faster than he'd ever seen a human being move, she put a fist into his stomach and as he doubled over in pain brought the side of her hand down on the back of his neck, knocking him onto the ground where he chose to lay still. "You'd better have left some coffee for me," she growled.

The stunned man's buddy wanted revenge. He tried to jump the pale woman from behind. She didn't want to reveal too much technique and used a simple O goshi, a hip throw, but added enough emphasis that he hit a boulder with sufficient force to earn sympathy from every man sitting there.

"Coffee, now!" Shego demanded.

One of the SEALs laughed hard at the expense of the Recon men. Donner turned to him, "Think you could do any better?"

"Sure as hell couldn't do any worse. But I'll give ya' that she's as tough as anyone here."

"Tougher," Donner said flatly. "You and your friend together aren't a match for her."

"We promise not to hurt her, much," the other SEAL said as they both rose to their feet.

"I'll get you for that," Shego hissed at Donner as the two SEALs came at her, eager to prove Donner wrong.

The first Marine rolled out of the way, he had developed a sudden but strong respect for Shego's abilities, didn't require another lesson, and wanted very much to be out of the combat zone.

The SEALs came at her together, but she maneuvered herself so that one was behind the other. A tobi geri, flying kick, caught the first man low in the chest, knocking the air out of him and sending him back into the second man. Shego landed on the balls of her feet and pounced. The first man was on top of the second, gasping for air. The man on the bottom struggled to free himself, but Shego put a hand on his chest and pushed him down. She pulled back her arm and announced, "Death blow to the throat."

The SEAL's eyes went wide in terror as her hand came down, but she simply put the palm of her hand on his forehead and pushed his head down hard enough that the back of his head bumped the rocky ground. Whether she was willing to kill or not would remain a mystery to them.

"You know, I'm really starting to get pissed here," she told Donner.

Donner, however, turned to the small Ranger, "Your analysis?"

"No science."

"Pardon?"

"The first two guys just tried to jump her, no effort at all to learn what she was capable of. The next two were just as bad. She had demonstrated a high level of fighting ability and they simply assumed two against one would give them the advantage, they didn't even position themselves to use that advantage."

"You want to try her?" Donner invited.

The small man smiled, "Nah. We're on the same side. I consider the point proven. But her technique wasn't great on that kick."

Shego's estimate of his intelligence went up another twenty points and she looked forward to breakfast.

"Come on, we can take her," his friend said, rising to his feet - eager for the Army to succeed where the Marines and Navy had failed.

The small man sighed, and reluctantly stood up. He directed the larger man and they split up, flanking her and trying to maneuver her into rough terrain where she wouldn't be able to move effectively. Had she tried to attack either one she would have probably left herself open to an attack from the other.

The rough terrain proved difficult for her attackers as well, Shego hoped the smug little man realized why her technique was less than perfect on the kick. The two Rangers both demonstrated respect for her abilities and watched her closely in case she launched an attack. Suddenly the larger man lost his footing on loose rock. Before he could recover from the stumble Shego was on him, with a fist to the chin that dropped him to the ground, then she scrambled past him to an area of solid ground. The smaller man pursued her, but kept a cautious distance when she turned to face him.

"No need to fight," she told him.

"True enough," he agreed.

Shego smiled, "You seem like an honorable man," and she bowed.

She didn't know if he'd use a fist or kick as she bowed. He attempted a snap kick and she caught his ankle, and added force to the momentum of his own kick, flipping him high and hard. He did a complete three hundred and sixty degree turn in the air and crashed down.

She offered a hand to help him up, but he raised a hand and waved her back, "Lesson learned," he told her, "no need to repeat your point."

Donner had a cup of coffee and breakfast bar ready for her when she sat down. Shego thought for a minute about the fight and what she should say next. The point had been made, and she had to be careful not to make any comments which might be taken as efforts to humiliate them and earn their hatred.

"Don't mess with me guys," she warned them. "I have a degree in English Lit."

That actually brought a laugh from two of them. The Marine who had been introduced to Mr. Boulder rolled his eyes, "Like I needed something to make me feel worse."

The first Marine rubbed his bruises and commented, "I'd like to learn how to do that drop kick you used."

"Learn how to use it?" the SEAL who had taken Shego's boot in his solar plexus snorted, "I want to learn how to defend against it."

"Wasn't a dropkick," the little Ranger muttered. "And I think she knows a hell of a lot more than she showed us."

"Now then," Donner began, "we need to assign code names and lay out a search strategy for finding the space craft. In terms of names I suggest-"

"Snow White and the seven dwarves," the small Ranger said.

"I'm Doc," a SEAL called.

"No you're not," the larger Ranger said, pointing to his short friend, "He's the medic, he's Doc."

"Damn it, that's the good one," the SEAL grumbled, "who do I get then?"

"You're Grumpy," his buddy laughed. "And I'll take Sneezy. Only good thing about this desert - no pollen."

"Happy! I want Happy," the larger Ranger laughed.

"This is stupid," a Marine grumbled.

"You're just saying that 'cause you don't remember any more dwarves," Happy shot back.

"I never saw it growing up in Puerto Rico," the second Marine said with his Latino accent.

"Who's left?" Grumpy asked, "besides--"

"Sleepy," Doc said, pointing to the Anglo Marine who smiled and shrugged his shoulders in agreement, "and Bashful, who never said very much."

The Hispanic Marine bobbed his head in acknowledgment.

"Fine, and I'm still Mr. D," Donner said, trying to get the meeting back under control."

"I don't think so," Sneezy retorted, "definitely a dwarf left.

Sleepy nudged Happy, "Who?"

"Dopey!" the Ranger said loudly - bringing a laugh from everyone but Donner.

Donner sighed. His job was to perform the mission. Accepting Dopey might lose him some respect, but throwing a tantrum would only serve to lose him more. Shego had made his point.

Donner handed out small packets of stapled pages, the top sheet of which presented a satellite version of the region, with a circle indicating the predicted area of the zone where electrical devices didn't work. "Cover page shows you the overview from space," he reminded them. "Given the terrain and the weight of our packs we're going to try and do five miles today. Page two..."

Everyone flipped to the second page, a much more detailed satellite image, marked with an 'X' showing their current location and a 'Y' some distance away.

"'Y' is where we hope to spend the night. Pages three through five are the highest resolution we can manage between here and there. I've highlighted what looks like the easiest path, but what we find on the ground may not match the view from space. If any pair of you wants to try a slightly different route, go ahead, but point 'Y' represents today's goal. Don't know if we need to try and set up main supply base at some point, but that won't be now." He glanced at his watch, "The guys hauling in supplies for us were supposed to start a half hour ago. We need to pack up and move out, I don't want our pack mules getting to tonight's camp before we do."

On a level trail five miles would have been nothing. As they loaded up each Special Ops pair joked with the other two about how they'd spend the afternoon, since they'd make camp before noon.

No one offered to help Shego with her pack. If she could fight she could carry her own load. She smiled as they moved together along what, from the air, had looked like the path of least resistance; they weren't a bad group. Some of them were a little too macho for their own good, but at least it appeared none of them were as pompous as her brother.

It might have been just five miles as the crow flies from where they spent the first night to their second planned camp. But the view from space gave them a very poor sense of the vertical rises and drops in the planned route. Doc and Sleepy kept their satellite images in hand, ready to propose alternate routes when something appeared more difficult than expected.

"Wusses," Sneezy said as the two consulted Donner in front of a ten foot ridge. "We can go over that."

"Of course we can," Doc pointed out, "but we're looking for the easiest route for the guys hauling in supplies. I don't want any of them having trouble getting water to me."

The Marine looked like he wanted to say something else, but Donner spoke up. "We're all on Team USA here; please remember that. Orders are to go in quiet and come out quiet. If you can't get along we've got other teams back on the ship."

"Jesus," Shego whispered to Donner, "think you could sound like more of a jerk? You're scolding him like he was twelve."

"I'm nervous. This is big, and I really don't want to screw it up. And I don't need some guy claiming he's got the biggest dick because he can take the most difficult route."

* * *

The villagers first heard the noise; then a round flying machine of some sort suddenly appeared and set down at the edge of the village. Mothers called their small children and told them to hide inside their homes as a blue creature hopped out of the mysterious craft. Some of the more superstitious feared they faced an afrit of some sort. The odd creature called out in a strange language, "Anyone. speak. English? I. need. to. hire. someone. to. carry. supplies. to. my. friends."

"I speak English," Ibrahim the Dreamer answered. Ignoring his mother the young teen stepped forward, but not too close.

Bego looked over the boy in his ragged Jimmy Hendrix t-shirt. He didn't look like he would be able to help her, but he knew the people of the village and at the very least could serve as a translator. "I. have. some. friends. who. are. in. the. desert. I. need. someone. to. bring. water. and. food. to. them.--"

"Why do you not carry it in your airship?"

"There. is. a. place. where. my. airship. does. not. work. I--"

"The place where iPods don't work?"

"Yes. The. place. where. iPods. do. not. work. I. have. purchased. supplies. for. my. friends, but. I. can. not. take. them. in. the area. I. wish. to. hire. someone. to.--"

"Are you a robot?"

Bego made her sigh noise, "My. body. is. metal. But. I. am. a. real. person. Now, do. you. know. someone. with. a. camel. or. donkeys. who. I might. hire?"

"I am sorry if I offended you, effendi, but one does not usually think of metal people carrying money. And no one in the village uses the plastic cards which are used in place of money."

"Credit. cards? No. I. will. pay. in. pounds. for. the. job."

"Euros also accepted, maybe even dollars," Ibrahim smiled broadly at her. He turned and spoke to his mother, "+Can you find Uncle Mehemet? This woman wishes to hire him for a job.+"

"+Is it safe?+"

"+She promises to pay cash.+"

"+I'll find him.+"

Ibrahim turned back to Bego, "I have the perfect man for you. Of course, we need to discuss a price. How much do you want him to carry in? Will this be one time or several times? Is it all legal? He might be willing to carry anything you wish, but certain, ah, materials, require an extra fee if the police look into--"

"Food. and. water. is. all. I. need. carried. I. will. need. him. for. several. days. at. least. I. am. not. really. certain. how. long. my. friends. will. be. in. the. desert."

Ibrahim quoted a price, four times what he thought his uncle would require to take the job, and Bego accepted. He had expected her to haggle and work him down to accepting half the proposed price. He inwardly cursed himself for not asking for more. With luck he could talk his uncle into even shares of the money - for arranging the high price and serving as translator. The Dreamer hoped the metal woman's friends stayed in the desert a long time, perhaps he could make enough money to leave the village and attend a good school.

Mehemet arrived and accepted the terms Ibrahim had arranged. "+But where am I supposed to meet her and collect the supplies, and where am I to go?+"

"He asks about where he will meet you."

"Can. I. give. him. a. ride. to. the. place. where. my. friends. will. look. for. him?"

When the boy translated for his uncle Mehemet backed away, he would not ride with this creature.

"Show me," the youth said impulsively and headed for the hovercraft. He wanted the money the blue woman promised.

"+Come back!+" his mother shouted.

"+I'll be fine+" he shouted back.

"What. did. she. say?" Bego asked as she climbed in the craft.

"She wished me luck."

Six minutes later Bego set down by the pile of rocks Jim and Wade had set up. "One. of. my. friends. will. come. out. here. to. meet. with. you. at. one. in. the. afternoon. I. can. unload. supplies. at. this. point. You. and. Mr. Mehemet. can. transport. them. into. the. area. where. iPods. do. not. work. at. my. friend's. direction."

The boy nodded, "Take me back to the village. I can guide my uncle to this spot."

* * *

In Egypt the Chinese had transferred from two smaller trucks to one large truck. Late in the morning they stopped on a narrow dirt road and the Chinese team climbed out of the back. A man with a camel waited at the side of the road.

"Come, load your packs, and come with me," he told them

"+Who is this?+" Quon asked Mao, the assistant ambassador to Sudan.

"+I found the man who took supplies to the Englishman. He can show you where to go. He will bring you supplies.+" Mao had found nothing himself, but claimed the credit for work done by a man in the Egyptian embassy.

Indeed, nothing Mao said was true, but the Chinese did not realize it. When Chinese arrived at the village. asking for anyone with information Gabir, who listened to the BBC on his shortwave, saw a chance to make a few pounds for himself. Many who lived in the area knew of the zone where transistor radios or battery powered watches would not work.

By mid-afternoon the fellah had brought them to the edge of the area. While the best dressed man of the Chinese seemed very happy to have arrived the others seemed less enthusiastic.

"+Why were we not told electrical equipment would not work?+" Quon demanded.

"+We could not be certain the story was true.+" Mao replied. "You," he addressed the Egyptian, "where did you take supplies to the Englishman?"

The brown man pointed to a hill about five kilometers distant. "His camp was there."

"You will bring water and food there for these men, yes?"

"Of course. Give me money for supplies. I will buy food and water and bring it. Every day I will bring it."

Quon was less than happy. He ordered the men with him to unload any electrical equipment. At least knowing the site of the Englishman's camp should give his people an edge.

Mao counted Egyptian pounds into Gabir's hands. The Egyptian smiled as he watched the Chinese pile equipment on the ground. After he took this man back to the road he would collect the electrical devices. Then he would go to visit relatives in another village, blending in with the fellahin. The Chinese would never see him again. He hoped the men, going in to a spot he had pointed to at random, would have the sense to leave before they died of thirst - if they could figure out what direction to take.

* * *

Wade had a lot of time to think as he headed back to the supply point. He hoped Bego found someone who could bring supplies in for a distance or he would spend all his time drudging back and forth just with water for five people.

The other four had promised to blaze a trail for him while they went forward. Each day he'd have to go further to get out of the anomaly and back to the camp. If Bego didn't find help maybe he should give up. Both physically and emotionally it would be too exhausting.

When he got to the agreed meeting point Wade was delighted to find Bego with three donkeys, a boy, and a man who appeared to be in his late sixties. Mehemet's face reflected the hardships of life in the tiny farming village, his actual age was early forties.

Uncle Mehemet felt a great deal of relief on finding that the afrit's friend appeared to be perfectly normal.

Wade gratefully accepted an English language newspaper from Bego and prepared to lead the Egyptians in the direction of the Team Possible II camp.

"And you wish us here tomorrow at one also?" Ibrahim asked.

"Yes. unless. you. have. a. problem. with. that. Wade."

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"You should arrange a time to give them the supplies," Wade told Bego, "but they'll go in to the point where I lead them today. Then, the day after that, they will probably need to go in even further. So they'll probably need an earlier starting time each day if they don't want to come back too late."

"That. makes. sense." Bego turned to Ibrahim, "What. do. you. think? I. can. meet. you. here. so. you. do. not. have. to. carry. supplies. longer. than. necessary."

The boy consulted his uncle. "We will be here around eight tomorrow morning. And, forgive me if I offend you, but you realize the amount we negotiated is for each day."

"Of. course. It. seemed. a. very. fair. price."

Ibrahim kicked himself again for not requesting more. Perhaps the young man with the dark complexion understood bakshish and would pass a little more cash their way. "And if our journey each day becomes overlong?"

"We will give you more money. I will also give you notes to bring out to Bego if--"

"Bego?"

"I. am. Bego."

"+What are they talking about?+" Mehemet demanded.

"+Patience, Uncle. They wish to make sure we do not cheat them on supplies--+"

"+By Allah, I am an honest man!+"

"+Of course, Uncle, but they do not know us and yet they depend on us. I am also trying to get a little more money for us.+"

"+Can you?+"

"+I believe so. Not today or tomorrow, but as the journey becomes longer they recognize it is fair.+"

"+Good job, Nephew.+"

Wade and Bego had remained silent during the exchange. The boy turned to Wade, "You will send notes to prove we have reached you, yes?" He turned to Bego, "And you will be here for them?"

"Or. I. can. come. to. your. village. in. the. evening. and. get. them."

"Forgive me again, if I offend you. But you scare the people of my village, I--"

Bego made her sigh noise, "I. shall. get. a. book. and. read. here. until. your. return. each. day."

* * *

In the early afternoon the Egyptians and Global Justice began arriving at the tiny village where Atwood-Long had purchased supplies. Kim and Will flipped for who stayed with the group and who rode out in an Egyptian jeep to see the spot where power would be lost. Kim won the toss and headed east. About four miles from the village they noticed the soldiers on either side of the path.

"+Halt!"+ one of the sentries called. The two explained this was the edge of the phenomenon. And the Egyptian officer explained they wished to experience it first hand for themselves.

The driver revved the engine and tried to get some momentum as they encountered the edge of the field. His reasoning, if there was any, wasn't clear. It didn't keep the phenomenon from affecting the engine, but gave them the momentum to roll deeper into it.

The Egyptian driver checked his watch, which had stopped. The second private attempted to radio out, but his equipment was dead. Kim turned to the officer, "This must be the place. It's just how it was described."

"Indeed. We have surveyors in our unit who will attempt to plot the area for us - or at least enough to give us some sense of direction."

The four got out of the jeep, and the Privates began to push it back out of the field. The Egyptian officer looked at Kim with amazement, and the Privates decided they'd never seen anything like her as she helped them with the pushing.

By the late afternoon most of the combined forces were gathered at the staging point on the edge, near where the sentries had been posted, as different points were located around the perimeter and plotted onto a map.

Will and Colonel Abbas suggested an early morning start. "We've still got a couple hours of daylight," Kim protested, "I think we should go in now."

"We do not have logistics ready for the entire group now. I don't even know if we will be fully ready--"

"A small group then."

"Pardon?"

"Let me go in with a few volunteers," Kim requested. "I'd like to start getting a feel for the land."

Abbas shrugged, "I will ask if any soldiers wish to go along."

Ron, of course, wanted to go in with Kim. Also, of course, LaTisha signed on; she refused to be second to Kim in anything. Mustapha Kemal would have preferred another night with slightly more comfort than the desert, but knew Kim might need help with translation. Dr. Farouk signed on to the scouting party in case there was a need for medical supervision. The Egyptians who had pushed back the jeep with Kim's help told their friends about the red-haired woman from Global Justice, and fully a dozen volunteered to join the patrol.

"Don't get too far ahead of us," Will grumbled as the smaller group set out, accompanied by five donkeys laden with supplies. He wished he had proposed a scouting party instead of Kim.

Kim laughed, "Not as long as we need the supply line to water."

Ron and Kim felt happy to really be headed towards whatever caused the motors to fail. Dr. Kemal felt regret at losing a halfway decent night's sleep. The Egyptian soldiers were delighted with the informality in the patrol and laughed and joked as they marched along. And Dr. Farouk wondered why the annoying black woman insisted on walking beside him.

* * *

In the Russian camp Dmitr evaluated the day's events as he worked on his journal. Despite some good news their first full day in the strange field had not gone well. They had gone further than Dmitr had planned, which gave him a certain feeling of confidence. The Egyptians bringing in supplies had found them without difficulty, and the note from Mikhal reported such chaos at the Egyptian staging area that he believed it would be several days before they could begin their search. But, assuming they could find the spaceship… even assuming there was a spaceship… how would they get any technology they could strip off it back to Russia? Mikhal said he had arranged for a large number of camels to ferry out whatever they might find. But Mikhal did not know the terrain, and having traveled through it for a day and a half Dmitr wondered if camels could even come close to wherever the ship might be found. The Russian leader allowed himself a half smile. He had come to accept the idea there was something there, and he wanted very badly to find it.

But Joseph had fallen today and hurt his arm. Vlad proved himself a competent medic, but without x-rays couldn't confirm if Joseph had a hairline fracture of not. Vlad had set the arm, just in case, and provided pain relief, now Dmitr had to weigh keeping an injured friend in the field, or sending him back. He wished Gregori had suffered the injury. Dmtri would gladly have sent him back. The man was insane and insubordinate. Dmitr needed Boris and Joseph for the support they provided.

The Russian commander sighed. He would choose to believe Joseph's arm was only sprained and keep him close. For the present he would assign Joseph light duty - guarding the prisoner. The Englishman remained reticent about providing information, but Dmitr hoped to bring him around through kind treatment. Gregori protested the treatment of the prisoner and offered to question Atwood-Long himself. Of course, Gregori's interrogation methods could only be tried once and the Englishman would not be able to travel with them when Gregori was finished.


	6. Day 6: Am I Getting Warmer?

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

This chapter mentions Will Du married to Monique. If you've not read R-E-S-P-E-C-T that might surprise you. Those reading that story probably expect it, even though things look bad between them at the moment.

**Day 6: Am I Getting Warmer?**

As they hiked into the anomaly the afternoon before Kim had offered to share a tent with LaTisha, but the black woman declined. "Nothing personal Kim, but I'm not sharing a tent with a lesbian. And, more importantly, I really want a tent to myself."

Kim raised an eyebrow, "You want a tent to yourself?"

LaTisha smiled, "Okay - I don't exactly want the tent to myself--"

"You're hoping to do some, um, entertaining?"

"Just think of it as doing my part to improve international relations."

"International… Dr. Farouk?"

"He's hot."

"You're a slut!"

"No double standards! If I was a guy after a good looking woman you wouldn't call me a slut."

"Yes I would."

"Well, maybe you might. You're a prude, Possible."

"Gah! You and Shego. Did she tell you to say that?"

"No, it's what everybody knows. After Will Du you're probably the second most repressed person in Global Justice."

"I am not!" Kim flushed. "Am I?"

"Well, it's a very, very distant second."

Kim sighed, "Try to not do anything which would embarrass Global Justice too much."

When they pitched camp for the evening Kim and Ron chose to share a tent. Kim realized it would probably do nothing to overcome her reputation as a prude - everyone knew the two had been friends forever.

When she woke up in the morning Ron was gone, and Kim resolved to scold him for letting her sleep. Her nose widened and she inhaled deeply. Her guess was breakfast, but nothing familiar. She heard the argument at the edge of camp as she finished dressing.

She found Ron with the cook who had accompanied them in, and with Dr. Kemal serving as translator. Recognizing that Kim held a command position the cook and Ron fell silent.

"What's the problem?" Kim sighed.

"Ron sampled the ful medames and complained there wasn't enough garlic." Mustapha explained. "Abdul said he was taking the tastes of the Global Justice agents in mind and not adding the usual amount." Abdul's actual comment was more along the lines of 'ignorant foreigners' but Dr. Kemal let it pass The cook did not like being criticized for trying to take the tastes of the Global Justice agents into account.

"Compliment Abdul for thinking of the feelings of others," Kim said.

"Ah, man!" Ron complained as Mustapha translated the message, "it's not the real stuff."

"However," Kim continued, "Please tell Abdul that we are guests in his country and we would like to experience the food as it is eaten by Egyptians. We do not wish him to conform to our tastes. It is for us to learn from him."

The cook beamed as Dr. Kemal explained. Then noticing the sun was starting to peek over the horizon the cook loudly exclaimed something.

"It's late. He doesn't have the aysh cooked," Dr. Kemal explained.

"Aysh?"

"Bread."

"Can I help," Ron asked.

Abdul shrugged when Dr. Kemal translated, and then showed Ron how to flatten the dough. The Egyptian smiled at the speed Ron seemed to understand and Dr. Kemal and Kim left the two working over the small charcoal oven.

With dawn about half the soldiers knelt on rugs in the direction of Mecca for morning prayers. At the end of prayers the camp came alive, the late sleepers emerging from their tents and camp being broken.

"Will we wait for the rest of the expedition to catch up with us?" Mustapha asked as he and Kim joined the end of the line for breakfast.

"I won't decide by myself. I have a suggestion for the lieutenant, but I'll ask for his opinion. I don't want to act unilaterally."

There were a few whispered comments among the soldiers at the fact Kim didn't pull rank and move to the head of the line. She was making friends without knowing it. The fact that Ron helped serve wasn't lost on the soldiers either.

"Ick!" was LaTisha's comment as she sampled the spicy fava beans and flat bread.

_"Oh, God, that's a lot of garlic,"_ Kim thought. Not wanting to cause an international incident, however, she smiled and waved at the cook.

Abdul smiled, grabbed Ron, and kissed him on both cheeks.

The lieutenant joined them. He agreed with Kim's suggestion that they keep the point position, but move slowly and find a good spot for the whole group.

* * *

In the Russian camp breakfast was a more hurried affair as they ate the Russian version of the Meals Ready to Eat rations and prepared to move at first light.

"Even without your help we are so far ahead of the others," Dmitr reminded Atwood-Long, "that we are certain to be there first. With your cooperation it is merely a little faster."

"A little sooner until I get eliminated?"

The Russian leader shrugged, "We could always use another scientist to help understand what you found."

"I'm a geologist, not an engineer."

"My nation needs geologists too."

"I won't help."

"It is your choice, but we would be grateful for help. If we find it for ourselves you are simply a waste of food and water."

"You shouldn't have wasted your time with me. I'm not helping you at all."

Dmitr smiled, "But, while we have you, no one else receives your aid either. Even dead you are of value since you can not show others the way."

The man's practical logic frightened Leslie more than threats.

* * *

Noise from outside the tent woke Donner. He tried to move and groaned. Thirty minutes a day in the weight room at the office left him looking fit, but didn't get him the endurance for this kind of travel. He woke up Shego, "Will you leave the tent first?"

"You want to watch me get dressed or have the guys see me like this?"

"I don't really care. You want to watch me rub in liniment? I'll close my eyes while you dress."

"Okay," Shego sat up, and groaned. "Law school's left me out of shape. I hope you've got a spare tube of that stuff."

The sun had not yet risen over the rocky hills, but there in the pre-dawn light Shego found the Special Ops men at work. One man from each pair was packing their tents. Doc and Sleepy had their heads together over the photocopied pages, a candle provided them enough illumination to discuss routes.

But it was Grumpy, hunched over the little stove, she wanted to find.

"Morning, Snowy."

"How long until it's coffee?" she growled

"If you're going to cop an attitude like that you can be Grumpy and I'll be Snow White."

"Don't ask, don't tell? Now, how long until it's coffee?"

"Five minutes."

"Great, just long enough for a long, luxurious bath in a moist towelette. I may get the tent packed in the other four minutes."

She had another question, "What in the hell was that thing with the meals yesterday?"

"The FRH?"

"Does anyone in the military speak English?"

"Flameless ration heater. Chemical reaction and voila, hot meal."

"Don't know if a hot meal is what I need out here. I don't suppose they have one that does cold."

"Sort of--"

"I was kidding."

"Seriously, but its not as effective. Not worth the extra weight to pack it in… Hey, I answered your question. What in the hell kind of sunscreen are you using? You look green."

"It's special made, just for me," Shego lied. "I have really fair skin. Not sure if it's the sunscreen, the aloe, or something else that gives me the green. I'd love to have skin like everyone else."

"You must really hate being out here in the desert," he commented as he filled a cup with coffee for her.

"You don't know the half of it."

"And where's the sand? Isn't a desert supposed to be hot and sandy?"

"Western desert is both those. It's dry and rocks here. Doesn't even need heat to be desert, the Gobi is cold."

Donner was out with Doc and Sleepy, going over his proposed route for the day with them, when Shego strolled back with her cup of awake. Yesterday they had discovered that the images from space often didn't help much on the ground, but they still felt they had a better sense of where they were and where they were going than the Egyptians and whoever had kidnapped Atwood-Long.

Donner wondered for the hundredth time why Lipsky and Load hadn't signed on to the mission. He had faith they could have found some sort of shielding which would have made the whole project child's play. He toyed with the idea they were interested in finding the source of the anomaly themselves, but abandoned it. The project was too big for a small group, no matter how many were geniuses, to have any chance of success.

They ate a fast breakfast, wanting to travel in the morning, eat a late lunch, rest in the hottest part of the afternoon, and then travel a few hours more in the late afternoon.

Bashful took the task of leaving trail marks for the Air Force SERE teams who would bring in supplies. That sometimes required back tracking and leaving new marks when efforts to move forward failed and they had to find alternate routes. The Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape boys would be making it in an out in one day at first. Donner anticipated that eventually the supply teams would spend a night with the main group before heading back.

"But we don't tell them what this is about?" Sneezy asked.

"Nope, sticking with the first cover story we told you." Donner told him.

"Actually, story is true," Doc pointed out.

"Why didn't I get the original cover story," Shego complained.

"'Cause you heard the truth before they did."

"Well, what was the original cover?"

"Even if it's some sort of natural phenomenon," Doc pointed out, "it's something like a stationary EMP, that's Electro-"

"Magentic Pulse," Shego finished. "I'm not an idiot, I just don't know your acronyms."

"Acronyms?" Sneezy asked.

"You're an idiot," Grumpy laughed, slapping his buddy on the arm.

"Be a hell of a weapon," Doc finished.

"And we'd like to be able to defend against it," Donner finished. "Somebody else gets it and America is crippled. Even if it's something natural, we've got to get it and figure it out."

Having agreed on a route to try the eight shouldered their packs and headed out.

* * *

The Chinese had reached the hill where they were told Leslie Atwood-Long had made camp in the late afternoon of the day before. They had found no evidence of a camp, but had assumed it was a matter of not having enough time to discover it before the sun went down.

In the morning they began a meticulous sweep of the area, looking for any sign of recent habitation. They discovered they had not been given adequate medical supplies when an Egyptian cobra bit Enlai and they had no proper anti-venom. They buried him and erected a pile of stones over the grave to keep out the jackals.

"+We do not think we will be receiving supplies+" Liang told Quon. "+We have been lied to.+"

"+We?+"

"+I speak for the others as well.+"

Quon sighed, "+You speak for me also.+"

The other men drew a sigh of relief that Quon proved reasonable.

"+So, we shall turn and go back?+" Jun asked.

"+No, we must move forward+" Quon told them. He sensed an ugly reaction to his words. "+You were with me on the road we came in on. There were no villages for many kilometers. We saw no other vehicles.+" He drew out a map and spread it open, jabbing his finger down, "+We are here. It is death to go back+" he told them, pointing at a vast area without any indications of habitation to the south of their position. "+There are two small villages around thirty kilometers away+" he told them, pointing to the specks which served as the bases for the Russians and the joint Egyptian-Global Justice forces.

"+Do we have enough water to walk that far?+" the youngest Chang asked.

"+We have enough, or we will die+" Quon warned them. "+We can not go back.+"

"+Shall we begin?+"

Quon squinted up at the sun, "+This is the hottest part of the day. We will need too much water if we leave now. We will wait two hours. Pack only what we must take.+"

* * *

Kim's unit could see the dust of the main group behind them all morning.

Colonel Abbas put down the binoculars, "They are still moving! I would radio them to stop - if I could."

"Miss Possible responds poorly to formal channels of authority," Will told him.

"Excuse me?"

"She's not good at following orders and prefers things her own way. Want me to tell her to stop?"

"I imagine the men with her will tell her that," the Colonel said, looking up at the sun. "It is time for a break. And since we have most of the supplies they will not wish to get too far in the lead."

"It behooves me, however, as joint liaison with the international contingent to convey your sentiments."

"Excuse me?" the Colonel asked. He wished he had the translator with him.

"I'll ask her to stop and maintain better communication."

"And how do you plan to do that without a radio?"

Kim was under doctors' orders to rest her group - doctors Farouk and Kemal. The two had set up a screen for protection from the sun and Mustapha produced a pocket chess set. He was delighted to find the medical man at least competent.

Lunch for the point unit for the Egyptian-Global Justice forces consisted of leftover ful medames and aysh from breakfast.

"I'm going to starve," LaTisha complained, picking at the bread and ignoring the fava beans.

"And it's not like there's any spare meat on you," Ron said, helping himself to what she left untouched on her plate.

LaTisha turned to Kim, "He was really your boyfriend once?"

"Yes."

"No wondered you converted to the First Church of Sappho."

"Hey, I resent that," Ron said, wiping up the last of the spicy mixture with the last of his aysh. "That was a compliment, you've got the figure of a model."

_"Lack of figure of a model,"_ Kim was careful not to say out loud.

As they rested Ron shaded his eyes and stared out into the harsh landscape baking under a glaring sun between the advance unit and main expedition, "Someone running out there, KP."

"Don't be silly, Ron, no one is that crazy."

Eight minutes later Will trotted in to camp wearing shorts, running shoes, a t-shirt, and SPF-125 sunscreen.

He was actually dripping sweat when he joined Kim and Ron - a difficult feat given the low humidity.

"Whoa, Dude, didn't know you were from Middleton."

"What," Will gasped, accepting a large water bottle from Ron and gulping it down.

"Out in the mid-day sun. You're not an Englishman, so you must be from Middleton."

Will looked at Kim for explanation, "There was a song by Noel Somebody-or-other that Bonnie sang in some production - Mad Dogs and Englishmen Go Out in the Mid-day Sun."

"And I'm not English," Will said slowly, "so, what's the Middleton reference."

"Ah, man. We're the mad dogs. You're married to Monique and you don't know that?"

"Oddly enough, the subject has not come up," Will told Ron, then finished the water.

"What's happening, Will?" Kim asked.

"Well, the co-leader of the Global Justice forces has apparently lost her mind and deserted the rest of the expedition."

"I'm just doing a little scouting."

"You're completely out of communication with the main body."

"And what do you suggest? Two tin cans and a really long piece of string?"

"Why don't you consider re-enlisting with the rest of us? We'd like to know where the doctor is, just in case."

"Look, I wasn't trying to ditch you. I'm just… just…"

"Being presumptuous?" Will suggested.

"Being KP," Ron suggested. "Always got to be number one."

"Kim and LaTisha," Will sighed.

"And Shego," Ron added. "Never could figure out those two getting together."

"Hello!" Kim interrupted, "I'm sitting right here."

"Of course we know, KP," Ron said solemnly. "Will and I would never talk about you behind your back."

* * *

Instead of moving forward with the others Wade headed back toward the point where Ibrahim and his uncle had delivered yesterday's supplies. Today they would move forward, following the trail Tim promised to mark for them. Wade had started to worry what would happen as they got deeper into the field. Team Possible II might need to survive on supplies arriving every other day. But the little donkeys seemed strong enough to bring in more than enough water at one time for two or three days.

Wade realized he hadn't thought this through well enough. He'd been making bad decisions for a while now… Shego was right, it was years. He wondered how much of this trip was hubris, a belief he could accomplish anything. Once upon a time he felt he could conquer any problem thrown at him, now it seemed like he only screwed things up. Maybe he'd known in his heart Joss would have to come on this trip. Maybe he'd hoped things would be the way they were before. Instead he experienced the torture of seeing her, knowing if he broke his word and tried to talk with her he would only deepen her contempt for him by revealing him to be a liar.

He reached the rendezvous spot and sat down in the shade of a large rock. _"Do you know if you're going crazy or, if you're crazy, do you imagine you're sane?"_ Even in the shade it was probably a hundred and ten, _"But there's no humidity, so it doesn't feel so bad,"_ he thought and laughed at his own joke. This morning, before they broke camp and the others moved on, Drakken had baked biscuits in a little reflector oven he carried.

"Don't know why you brought that thing," Jim kidded, "Just put 'em out on a rock and they'd cook faster.

"Well, I'm grateful for some hot grub," Joss commented. "An' I think your biscuits are wonderful," she told the blue man.

Drakken positively beamed at the compliment and Joss smiled. Wade wanted to pick up a large rock and bash Drakken in the head, but chose instead of quietly count to ten. _"I will not be jealous of Doc. I will not be jealous of Doc."_

They were all tired at the end of the first day. Wade had covered more ground than the others with the trip back for supplies. Drakken was the most out of shape. And Jim had insisted on taking the most difficult route along with Joss to insure they kept heading straight for the middle on the phenomenon. Jim was right; Joss needed someone to watch her back and Jim was probably the best at maintaining their position. But he stayed close to Joss all day. _"I will not be jealous of Jim,"_ Wade told himself,_ "I will not be jealous of Jim."_

Then there was Tim, the ever helpful and cheerful Tim. Whenever Joss needed someone to talk with he was the person she turned to. Wade wanted to strangle him. _"I will not be jealous of Tim,"_ Wade told himself,_ "I will not be jealous of Tim." _Wade sighed, this wasn't insanity - it was simply jealousy at a level which could be mistaken for insanity. Tim and Jim were her cousins. Drakken old enough to be her father, the blue man was like a crazy uncle to them all. There was no good reason to be jealous of them - except they were allowed to talk to Joss and he wasn't. Maybe he was insane. If he wasn't now he feared he might by the end of the mission.

The arrival of Ibrahim allowed Wade to think about other things. The young man beamed to see Wade and waved wildly. Wade waved back.

"Salaam Alechem!" Wade called.

Even uncle Mehemet grinned at the greeting.

"Happy day to you, Mr. Load," the boy shouted back.

Ibrahim felt as happy as Wade fade depressed. He hoped the Americans did not find whatever it was they sought too soon. Tomorrow he might ask about receiving more money for the longer journey. And uncle Mehemet promised to split the money earned equally. Life was indeed sweet.

* * *

Dr. Farouk, as a medical doctor, knew he was not competent to diagnose mental problems. But he suspected LaTisha Jackson might suffer from some sort of mental aberration. As the small group moved slowly forward, looking for a space large enough for the entire expedition to spend the night, he stayed between Ron and Kim. It seemed the best way to keep Latisha at bay.


	7. Day 7: Points of Convergence

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners.

While I've read on Egyptian food on various websites a special thank-you goes to RonHeartbreaker for his amazing, and thoroughly disgusting description of eating molokhia.

**Day 7: Points of Convergence**

As Kim feared, one person could wake up and hike ten miles before ten people could get up, get organized, and hike one mile. With the whole expedition together it looked like they would be off to an even later start this morning. It seemed like a larger percentage of the soldiers were still in their tents when she emerged from hers

Most the devout were out, facing Mecca for their morning prayers. As the small group prayed together LaTisha found Dr. Farouk smoking a cigarette.

"You don't pray?" she asked.

He smiled, "I believe that God will hear my prayers even if I do not prostrate myself or face Mecca."

"Oh, sorry," she apologized. "So, I interrupted your prayers?"

He dropped the cigarette butt and ground it out with his heel - although there was no danger of it starting a fire. "Not at all," he told her, "I wasn't praying."

"But you said--"

"I said," he reminded her, "that Allah hears prayer regardless of where I face or the position of my body. Doesn't mean I was praying. Good morning, Ms Jackson." He moved off in the direction of the camp kitchen.

LaTisha followed him with her eyes; he was an interesting man - handsome and hard to get. At least he remembered her name. She smiled, knowing she would get him. LaTisha did not accept failure as an option, but was willing to accept success lying down.

Ron had been adopted by the cooks and helped with the camp kitchen, studying Abdul's techniques and recipes. With more ingredients to chose from not even LaTisha could complain about a lack of choice. In addition to the Egyptian foods Ron prepared a sort of scrambled eggs from dehydrated eggs and gibna beida, a local cheese similar to feta. While most of the Egyptians turned up their noses at the sight LaTisha, Jake and the GJ agents filled their plates with eggs and a salad primarily made of chopped tomatoes and cucumbers.

Colonel Abbas asked Kim, Will, and Dr. Kemal to join him and the other Egyptian officers for breakfast. The Colonel smiled and nodded at Kim, "We went further yesterday than I had hoped. Too many of my men want to know the least they can do. You seek to find how much you can do. They do not want to let a woman show she is stronger."

The praise embarrassed Kim, who shrugged it off, and annoyed Will who didn't approve of compliments being given for poorly following orders.

"I would like you to take the lead again today, if you wish," Abbas told her. "Two more days like yesterday and we should make the center of this… this… whatever this is and begin seeking the source."

"That would be wonderful," Kim told him. "Much as I enjoy seeing your country, there's no place like home."

"Take the men who were with you, or ask for volunteers. Leave your packs here—"

"Excuse me, Colonel, but if I don't carry a pack the men may think I am traveling faster because it is easier for me and they might complain."

The colonel laughed and said something in Arabic to the officers seated around him.

"He wishes he had more men like the American woman," Mustapha whispered.

* * *

The Chinese drank the last of their water at breakfast. Without working compasses or other ways to plot their position accurately, and using maps that didn't show sufficient detail they were worried whether they could get out of the desert.

Quon consulted Jun and the oldest Chang. His best guess is that they were about five kilometers from the nearest village. It would be a thirsty hike, but by no means impossible if they had some good fortune in finding a way through the rocky terrain; and if they could find the tiny village at the edge of the desert without compasses or anything else to help guide them.

* * *

"But I was going to make cinnamon rolls!" Drakken complained in the Team Possible II camp.

"Sorry, Doc, but we got a late start yesterday waitin' for the biscuits. How 'bout we have the cinnamon rolls for dessert tonight?" Joss suggested.

"I had my heart set on cinnamon rolls," he grumbled.

"Move your butts, people," Jim called. "Let's get moving before it gets too hot. We don't need cinnamon rolls."

"If that's going to be his attitude, I'll eat his tonight," Tim said, shouldering his pack. "I'll dream about them all day. Your hand okay, Joss?"

She rubbed the bandage on her hand, "Pretty much fine. Glad Doc has the medicine. Never saw whether it was one of the yellow scorpions or not, but it hurt."

Wade wanted to tell her to be careful as she climbed the rocks, but kept his mouth shut.

* * *

Shego woke up well before dawn. She suspected the watches they'd been given were old, going back to the days of radium paint. It was fifteen or twenty minutes before people were expected to get up. Not long enough to try and get back to sleep. Bored she tried to think of something to amuse herself. She guessed a couple of the Special Ops pairs were awake also. An evil grin crossed her face and she began to moan softly, just loud enough to be heard outside the tent while sounding like she didn't want to be heard at all. "Oh yeah… Oh yeah… Right there… Ah… Oh yeah…" She planned on about two minutes of that before a louder, "What, already?" in a disgusted voice.

Donner, however, woke up and, not knowing he was supposed to be a lousy lover, joined in. He slapped his hand against his thigh to the rhythm of her moans and grunted quietly, "Oh, God, you're incredible… Uh… Uh… You're the best… Oh, God… Oh, God…"

Shego could barely keep from laughing, but wasn't about to end the game prematurely while someone was calling her the best. After what seemed like a sufficient time Shego let out a long moan, "Go ahead," she purred.

Donner added three more slaps to his thigh, then ended his grunts with a long groan. "You're great," he said just loud enough to be heard outside the tent. Then dropping to a quieter whisper that could not be heard outside the tent, "Thanks, that helps."

"Helps?" she whispered back.

"If I complain about sore muscles today they get envious rather than thinking I'm a weakling."

Shego shook her head in amusement at the way the male mind worked. "Close your eyes, I'm getting out of here."

The abilities of the Special Ops men impressed Donner, but they talked far too much for the intelligence agent to feel comfortable around them.

Shego discovered that she was not as badly out of shape as she feared. She worked out the minor soreness of the first day and now felt ready for another day's hike.

* * *

The Russians began the day in good spirits. Without the tools they were accustomed to use to locate their position they could not be certain, but they hoped by the end of the day to reach the center of the phenomenon. Even without Leslie's aid they might find what they were looking for the next day.

"You will receive no food today," Dmitr told the Englishman. "A little hunger might encourage your cooperation."

* * *

In the early afternoon the SERE forces reached the US party as they took a break in the hottest part of the day. They headed back immediately after dropping off supplies and the latest satellite images. Traveling in the hottest part of the day was a pain, but they had air-conditioning and iced drinks to look forward to once they were back on board ship. They also had a well laid out path laid out for them which made their work much easier.

Donner, Doc, and Sleepy looked over the satellite maps as they rested in the shade. The Egyptian camp showed clearly. Donner cursed the fact the Egyptians were making better time than he had anticipated. They searched the images to try and find anyone else who might be in the race. They guessed whoever had Atwood-Long was on the ground somewhere. If it was a small group, such as their own, it might not be visible from space. They each found a nominee for another group in the field, but saw nothing definite.

* * *

Quon tried to make the men rest in the early afternoon. They had been unable to travel as far, or in the direction he wanted, that morning. He and the eldest Chang sat in the shade of a large rock while the others insisted on scouting ahead in hopes of seeing signs of the village which Quon felt would be too far for them to find.

"+We are going to die, aren't we?+" Chang asked.

"+We will all die, someday+" Quon reminded him.

"+But our time will be now, and the place here.+" Chang insisted.

Quon sighed, "+I fear you are right.+"

As they waited for the sun to go down a little before trying to push on they heard a gun shot. Startled they arose and went to find the source of the sound.

Two camels and drivers were heading west as Quon and Chang rounded an escarpment. As they got further into the open they saw the rest of their party with some sort of supplies and another camel and driver heading east.

Liang waved a bottle of water, "+Come, drink!+"

"+What happened,"+ Quon demanded, "+who fired a shot?+"

"+I did+" the youngest Chang answered. "+They carried some sort of supplies. Some food, and a lot of water! We are in good shape now.+"

"+We are in bad shape now+" Quon grumbled. "+They might have given us water. They are peasants like ourselves, they would not have let us die. And we could have gone to their village. Now we will be greeted with guns if we go there.+"

"+We should follow them," the middle Chang suggested, "+even if we are arrested we will live.+"

"+The map says the other village is close+" Liang argued. "+We have supplies enough now to reach it. We are less likely to be greeted with guns there. Let them arrest us if they wish - at least we will live.+"

Quon wondered if they could find the village to the north. He looked to the west, but already the two camels were out of sight. "+Eat, drink+" he told the others. "+We will try to find the village to the north. And we must move quickly in case the men you robbed come back with weapons.+"

* * *

In the main body of the Egyptian expedition Will thought he heard a shot being fired. With the noise of the army on the move, however, he realized he could not be certain.

* * *

No longer hauling supplies, and with the fear of being shot, the camels and their drivers who had been heading for the Russians traveled quickly. The Egyptian with the best English went to tell Dmitr about what happened - it would demonstrate their good faith when he returned to the crazy man in the village with the password to prove they had tried to deliver the supplies. The other drivers made it back to the village. Mikhal at first thought they were lying and considered shooting one. But one of their number had not returned, and Mikhal's priorities demanded the men in the field receive the supplies they needed. Within twenty minutes of the Egyptians' return to their village four men on camels headed back to the desert. Two camels carried Egyptians and more supplies. The two other camels carried the rest of the supplies and two Russian thugs, perhaps more frightened than they had been in their lives as their strange mounts moved with a gait they had never experienced and which they feared would pitch them from the high backs of the dromedaries.

* * *

The Russian expedition did not have a good day. They had started with a large lead, but today's rocky landscape appeared impenetrable, at least in the most direct line they wished to travel. Further the note from Mikhal yesterday warned that the Egyptians had begun their search. While the Egyptians would be slowed by their own numbers and not enough preparation they still represented a major problem and would make it difficult to remove any alien technology. The Russians, like the Americans, were prepared to destroy whatever was out there to insure it did not fall into enemy hands.

They spent the morning in futile search for a passage wide enough to allow their supplies through. Misha discovered a rift in the rocks a man might get through, but not a camel carrying supplies.

By noon they had given up on finding a direct route.

"+Joseph, Vlad, you two will stay here with the prisoner and wait for supplies. Boris, Misha, look for an opening to the north. Gregorii and I will check the south+" Dmitr told them. "+We will meet here again at three.+"

"+We are going out in the hottest part of the day?+" Misha protested.

Gregorii glared at Misha and grumbled something about a coward.

"+We must keep our lead+" Dmitr told them. "+We can not let another nation find a weapon that kills all communication.+" The Russian leader hated the thought of exploring with Gregorii, but feared the man might attempt to bully any of the other men. Dmitr would no let himself be pushed around.

At three in the afternoon Dmitr and Gregorii returned to camp without having found any passage. They hoped Boris and Misha had better luck. But first Dmitr had to know why a single camel stood by their meeting point, with no supplies on its back.

The men were under orders to never speak Russian in front of the prisoner. "We have been robbed of our supplies," Vlad said glumly.

"They had guns," the Egyptian insisted. "Fired gun, took your supplies. It was not our fault."

* * *

At the Team Possible camp they argued over the source of the mysterious power as the cinnamon rolls cooked.

"Got one of Maxwell's demons working for them is my guess," Tim suggested. "Generating power from the heat differential."

"No way," Jim scoffed. "Those things consume more energy than they produce."

"We're not dealing with one our engineers made," Tim argued. "Some sort of permeable membrane that only allows warmer molecules of air to enter one side and cooler molecules the other.

"Not get enough power that way--" Wade grunted.

"Power from radioactive decay," Jim interrupted.

"Too conventional," Wade replied. "It uses some force we've never tapped for power. I'm going with the earth's magnetic field."

"Ha!" Drakken interjected, "you accuse the twins of being too conventional? It wouldn't be so incompatible with human technology if it used--"

"That's the source of the power," Wade insisted. "It gets converted into something we don't understand."

"Gravity," Drakken insisted. "It draws on gravity to produce power."

"Crazy talk," Jim muttered. "You can't get any power from gravity."

"We can't," Drakken agreed, "but as your brother wisely pointed out we aren't dealing with human technology. Joss, you want to add a theory of your own or tell us which theory you think is best?"

"Hmm," Joss pondered a minute, "Well, we won't know nothin' 'til we really find it. Heck, I don't know if we'll know much then. But right now I'm guessin' that Doc has the best answer."

"You're just saying that 'cause there're five of us and twelve rolls," Jim insisted. "You're hoping for a third."

"You said you didn't care about cinnamon rolls this morning," Tim reminded him. "I say the other four of us get three each."

They argued about that until Drakken pronounced the rolls done. He and Joss each had three of the small treats.

"Glad we got Doc along," Joss said as she licked her fingers, "otherwise we'd just be eatin' beans."

"It's a royal pain sharing a tent with Tim, too many beans this trip," Jim grumbled.

"Oh yeah, like smelling you is anyone's idea of fun," his brother shot back.

"Oh, remember that scene in Blazing Saddles," Jim demanded.

Wade made a face, "God help us if we've been reduced to that."

Tim wouldn't drop the idea Jim brought up, "Hey, Doc, did you ever hear of the movie Blazing Saddles?"

"I'll have you know," Drakken replied in a haughty tone, "that I saw it in a movie theater. A theater with a single huge screen."

The others looked at him, trying to imagine how that worked. "So, did they show different movies on different parts of the screen?" Tim asked.

"No, there was one movie in a theater. It was shown on a big screen."

"Wow," Jim murmured, "you really are old."

"Why do I bother trying?" Drakken exclaimed in disgust.

Joss smiled, "Heck, ya know we really don't know a thing 'bout what's out there. Shoot, the things we've seen? Could be some big ol' monster out there just waitin' to swallow the curious when they come out of investigate."

"There's a pleasant thought to dream on," Jim laughed.

* * *

Late in the afternoon supplies reached the Russians. The Egyptians and two Russian gunmen immediately headed back. Mikhal would have to pay a bonus since the men made two trips into the desert.

Dmtri regarded the day as lost. There had not been time to explore the path Boris and Misha found. And to make it worse Gregorii proved insubordinate yet again.

"+We need to find the men who stole our supplies," Gregorii insisted. "They tried to kill us.+"

"+I doubt if they tried to kill us+" Dmtri scoffed. "+They would have killed the Egyptians if they wanted us dead. They only needed water.+"

"+They slowed us down+" Gregorii insisted, "+and tried to kill us. If we do not go after them you are guilty of ignoring your duty.+"

"+My duty," Dmtri bristled, "+is to find whatever weapon lies at the center of this field - not to run after petty thieves.+"

"+We will never find it if you allow us to be robbed!+"

Dmitri allowed a vote, and felt disgusted when he lost. "+Don't use your guns unless you must," he warned Gregorii, Vlad, and Boris. "+The Egyptians are probably close enough to hear gunfire.+"

* * *

Laughter seemed to dominate the Egyptian camp. Most of it was for how far they had managed to travel that day, with a number of jokes at the expense of soldiers complaining about trouble keeping up with the pace set by the American woman. There were also a few crude sexual jokes told at the expense of the female GJ agents when no officers were present. Dr. Kemal overheard a couple, but chose to ignore them.

Despite the General's misgivings about the speed with which the expedition had been organized he kept a steady stream of supplies going out to the field. Abdul and his assistants had a large supper prepared.

Kim had a plate largely filled with a rice dish and salad, and was reaching for what looked like a long meatball when Ron hissed, "Skip the kufta."

"Why?" She whispered.

"Cause we've got no refrigeration on the ground lamb and Abdul thinks cigarette ash is a spice."

"You're joking… aren't you?"

"Okay, he doesn't exactly think it's a spice. He just drops a lot in by accident."

Kim decided to pass on the kufta. At the end of the mess line an Egyptian private ladled up… something. "What is this?" she called back to Ron, serving at the middle.

"Shurbah, soups. Say khudaar. The molokhia is strictly for the Egyptians… LaTisha asked for some - I want to head over and watch her try and eat it."

"Molokhia," Kim told the Egyptian server as best she could pronounce it. If her desire to eat Egyptian food weren't enough she refused to let LaTisha try something she wouldn't try.

The man smiled and nodded and ladled up a helping of what looked like mucus and greens. Just watching it served almost cost Kim her appetite.

The Global Justice agents were largely in a group by themselves as they ate. Alawi Farouk sat with them, a larger chess set on the ground between himself and Mustapha Kemal. Kim sat by Will and discussed the role of Global Justice with the expedition.

Will grudging thanked Kim for the pace she set, then hesitated before adding, "While I can not be certain of the observation I believe I heard a shot fired today."

"Anyone else hear it?"

"Not that I am aware of, and it appeared to be at a distance. Nevertheless, the suspicion we are not alone may have received confirmation."

Ron arrived with his own plate of food as Kim considered Will's words. Various agents called greetings as he sat down.

"Tried your molokhia yet?" he called to LaTisha.

"My what?"

"The soup."

"No, I'll try it now."

Kim watched as the black woman dipped a piece of aysh into the mixture. The redhead winced as a viscous thread trailed between the bread and the bowl.

"Not bad," LaTisha commented, taking a spoon and digging in.

Kim looked at the bowl of mucus on her plate… If LaTisha could eat it, she must eat it.

Dr. Farouk had noticed what was happening, "Many foreigners do not like the taste of molokhia."

"Reminds me of something my gran used to make," LaTisha explained, glad to hear a word from the Egyptian. "She put in a lot of okra and it had a consistency like this."

_"Okra,"_ Kim thought. She hated okra. Now she'd be thinking of that as she forced herself to eat the horror.

"It is a very ancient dish," the doctor explained, "made from a plant sometimes called Jews' mallow--"

"So, it's like a soul food?" Ron interrupted.

"Soul food?"

"Rich folk wouldn't eat okra," LaTisha explained. "Poor folk ate what they could get to survive. Rich folk got the turnips, poor folk got the turnip greens. Rich folk got the ham, poor folk ate the chitlins--"

"Chitlins?"

"Pig intestines," LaTisha explained. "Gran was a whiz with those also."

"So, this Jews' mallow some sort of soul food in Egypt?" Ron asked.

"I don't know. It is a word--"

He was interrupted by the arrival of a young assistant cook who spoke little English. The youth pointed to Ron, "Jew boy, come," and gestured for Ron to follow him.

Ron got up and left. Kim feared for his health, "Is it safe for Ron if they know he's Jewish?" she asked Dr. Kemal.

"I'm not certain I understand the question."

"Don't most Muslims hate Jews?"

"_Most_ Muslims," Dr. Kemal said emphatically, "wish Christians would remember that Jews lived better lives under Muslim rule than they did under Christians for more than a thousand years."

As he finished speaking Ron came back with a large piece of something on his plate. "Basbousa," he explained, "Abdul wanted me to have the first piece."

"Abdul likes you," Dr. Farouk observed. "None of us will be served a piece that size."

Before Ron could take a bite of the sticky dessert Kim asked him, "Did you hear what Mustapha said?"

"Sorry, KP, missed it."

"He said Jews were better off under Muslim rule than Christian for more than a thousand years." Kim, perhaps unwisely, regarded Ron as the voice of authority on all things Jewish.

Ron shrugged, "Well, yeah. All the famous Jewish guys in the Middle Ages lived in Muslim countries. When the Christians kicked Jews out of England and Spain and other countries the smart one went to Muslim countries."

Kim raised an eyebrow, "Famous Jewish guys? How famous are they if you can't remember their names?"

"Hey, I'm not a history major. I don't remember their names," Ron protested.

"You are thinking of men like Sa'adiah ben Yosef Gaon, who came from Egypt, or Maimonides, who moved here," Alawi suggested.

"Yeah, KP, what he said."

"But all the Muslim countries hate Israel!"

Alawi shrugged, "Most Muslims are not Arabs. Some Arab states have been officially at war with Israel for sixty years. We Egyptians have been at peace with them for years, we find them good neighbors. Less trouble than Libya."

"And we Turks were never at war with Israel," Mustpha pointed out.

"Most of us think that Israel treats the Palestinians badly--"

"Hello," Ron interrupted, "Hamas fires katyusha rockets into Israel trying to kill people every day!"

"And if Israel had begun treating the Palestinians better forty years ago no one would join Hamas today," Dr Farouk shot back before turning philosophical. "But no government is perfect. I have many complaints about my own government - and many about yours as well," he said to Kim. "But it doesn't mean I see all Americans as my enemies."

"I say we end the discussion here by blaming the British for making a mess of it," Dr. Kemal suggested, "and go see if we can get a piece of basbousa half as large as Abdul gave young Stoppable."

"Or blame the Turks," Dr. Farouk suggested. "They made a mess of it before the British ever arrived. And perhaps two cups of ahwaziyada."

"Just call it Turkish coffee," Mustapha snorted

"It is not the same!"

"It is!"

"No, you're wrong. Egyptian coffee is better."

"Mr. Stoppable," Dr. Kemal said, "come with us to the mess. We will borrow two ibriks and I will show you how Turkish coffee is supposed to be made while Abdul or this quack produce their pale Egyptian imitation and you will confirm they have simply copied my superior drink."

The Egyptian doctor laughed, "And when he confirms the ahwaziyada is superior?"

"The sun will rise in the west."

"Need another judge?" LaTisha asked.

"Certainly Ms. Jackson, if your taste buds are as refined as Mr. Stoppable's," said Mustapha.

"She likes molokhia so her sense of taste is acceptable," Alawi agreed, "let us see if the two of them agree."

* * *

As they settled down for the night Tim had another idea. "Know what we need to invent?"

"No, what?" Joss answered.

"Dehydrated water. Be a whole lot less to lug around here if we just had dehydrated water."

Joss giggled, "And what ya gonna do with it?"

"Just add water and rehydrate," Tim assured her.

"There are free oxygen and hydrogen molecules in the air," Drakken pointed out.

"Don't start thinking about it," Jim warned him. "It would require too much energy to work."

"But we've got abundant solar energy," the blue man pointed out.

"Or methane," Tim said, holding his nose.

"Save any ideas for later," Wade told him, "We can't build anything here, and we probably wouldn't want to carry it around with us."

* * *

Gregorii, Vlad, and Boris knew path back to the village, since they had discovered it themselves over the previous few days. They traveled quickly, wanting to return to camp as soon as possible. Gregorii took delight in the prospect of killing, and Vlad felt almost the same thrill. The younger man had never actually killed anyone, but after intense training he wanted to prove he could do in reality what he had been taught. Boris wondered if he had made a mistake in voting for this. Perhaps the anger of the moment had swayed his judgment and he should have let it pass as Dmitr had urged.

It was turning to dusk as they reached the point where the Chinese had hijacked their supplies. A number of discarded water bottles marked the spot clearly. Nor did the Chinese make any effort to hide their trail. Other empty bottles and food wrappers extended off to the north.

"+They aren't following us, it looks like they seek a way out+" Boris pointed out.

"+They may raid our supplies tomorrow+" Gregorii insisted.

Vlad couldn't stand the thought of turning back without having hunted human prey, "+We must move ahead!+"

The moonlight and litter enabled them to find the Chinese camp, about three kilometers away. The Chinese had discarded tents and other non-essentials in their earlier flight. Without fuel for a fire they huddled in a circle as the temperature dropped after the heat of the day.

The Russians put their heads together and whispered plans. They would wait a little while, seeing if any of the Chinese left the group to answer the call of nature, or waiting to see if they would all fall asleep. The three quietly separated and moved to different points around the Chinese.

Liang was the first to die. He made a joke about drinking too much water and left the others to relieve his bladder. His pants were down when Gregorii grabbed him from behind. The larger Russian clamped a hand over the smaller man's mouth and before Liang could even try to struggle a sharp knife ripped across his throat - severing the carotid artery. Gregorii's slash went so deep his blade hit the vertebrae in the smaller man's neck. It was a matter of seconds before the Russian lowered the lifeless body to the ground. The death had been completely silent, none of the other Chinese heard a thing.

Liang's failure to return caused no immediate worry among the Chinese.

"+He is having trouble getting everything out,"+" a Chang joked.

"+I don't want to piss on him+" the middle Chang said, "+I'm going to take a leak in the other direction.+"

It is one thing to be trained to kill a man, it is another thing to kill him. Vlad tried to keep his kill as silent as that of Gregorii, but the struggles of the Chinese man made noise as Vlad stabbed him repeatedly in the chest.

"+What's happening?+" Jun called.

Quon added, "+Do you need help?+"

Gregorii heard movement in the Chinese camp, they'd be throwing off the blankets wrapped around them and standing up. He grabbed a rock and charged the midst of the Chinese before they could prepare themselves. He kicked Quon, hard, his heavy boot cracking ribs on the leader of the Chinese. He threw the rock at another man. It would have been too easy to miss the head in the darkness, but even hitting the oldest Chang in the chest stunned him.

"+Help me! Now!+" the Russian bellowed at Vlad and Boris.

Vlad dropped the mortally wounded man and scrambled into the Chinese camp as Gregorii savagely slit the throat of Jun. Vlad fell on Quon, stabbing instead of slashing.

The youngest Chang freed himself from his blanket and scrambling to his feet. Gregorii struck at him, cutting the young man's arm slightly, before the Chinese man ran into the desert.

"+Find him! Kill him!+" Gregorii screamed at the still missing Boris as he and Vlad butchered the oldest of the Changs.

The youngest Chang was too scared to run well. In an utter panic he stumbled over rocks. He could hear a pursuer behind him and tried to run harder. He pulled out his own knife, but preferred running to trying to defend himself. Two hundred yards from his former camp he tripped and went down. By the time he got to his feet his pursuer was only a couple meters away.

Boris saw no necessity to kill the man. Chang was little more than a boy, he could do nothing to harm the Russians, and there would be no value in his death. He might even have information of value to the Russians. The Russian assumed the youth spoke some English, "I don't want to harm you," he told Chang in a soothing voice.

Chang, who understood no English, looked at the larger man - wondering what he was saying.

"Just surrender. I won't hurt you. We'll take you back to our camp. How does that sound?"

Chang managed to get some of his fear under control. His breathing slowed to a more normal level.

Boris continued talking in a quiet tone. "We won't harm you. Everything will be fine. Do you understand?" Boris smiled and nodded at the youth. The moon was bright enough for his expression to be visible.

Chang had no idea what Boris had said, but he smiled and nodded.

"Why don't I take the knife before I tell the others you are our prisoner," Boris suggested and moved closer and slowly reached out his hand to take the weapon from the Chinese man.

The Russian screamed as Chang suddenly lunged forward, sticking the knife in the Russian's belly. The Chinese man jerked the knife across the Russian's stomach. The pain was like fire in him. Boris's hands came up, pressing against the wound across his middle. He could feel his blood gushing out and feel his entrails.

His screams lasted longer than Chang believed humanly possible. But even before the Russian fell to the ground Chang was off and running again.

He had calmed down in the breathing space Boris had provided him. He dodged around some boulders to keep his flight from being observed in the moonlight. But mostly he ran. He ran until his sides ached, and remembering what he had seen back at his camp he kept trying to run, even though he knew he was at the limit of his resources.

Exhaustion forced him to stop for minute and as he gasped for breath he noticed the lights of a large camp about a kilometer away. Chang almost turned around, it might be the camp of the men who killed his companions. But the killers were in the darkness behind him; they might have followed him and be closing in now. Chang had no food, no water, and blood continued to drip from the wound on his arm. He knew he would die if he received no help. He weighed his options. Slow death awaited him if he hid in the rocks. Perhaps the camp he saw did not belong to the killers. Even if it did the death they offered would be faster than slowly bleeding to death or dying of thirst.

Chang saw little hope that he might receive help in the camp before him, but that was the only hope he had. And so the wounded Chinese began his hike towards the Egyptain - Global Justice camp.


	8. Day 8: Five Little Indians

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

My thanks again to the lovely Kaede Shinomori who provides Spanish for me when necessary. And once again, although she hates doing it, she provided poor Spanish in a place where I demanded poor Spanish. If you complain about the grammar you're missing the point.

Chapter title from a story by Agatha Christie, who altered an earlier poem (long story there).

**Day 8: Five Little Indians**

_Five little Indians going in for law;  
One got into Chancery and then there were Four.  
_

Only a small portion of the Egyptian camp woke when the sentry brought the Asian into camp. Dr. Farouk was awakened to treat the cut on his arm. Six other soldiers were awakened to assist the doctor and provide security in case the man proved hostile. Two soldiers flipped a coin as to who should wake up Col. Abbas. He promptly told the man who lost to go to hell, but stop on the way there and wake up someone from Global Justice.

* * *

Dawn had just come to the horizon when Ibrahim and his uncle stopped at the strange flying machine for the supplies they would take to Team Possible II. "I. finished. the. books. I. brought. with. me. yesterday. I. will. fly. down. to. Cairo. to. visit. a. bookstore. while. you. are. gone, but. will. be. here. when. you. come. out. Is. there. anything. I. can. have. here. for. you. when. you. return?"

The boy consulted his uncle. "My uncle asks if you could have a cold Stella waiting for him."

"Stella?"

"A beer."

"I. can. keep. it. in. the. cooler. until. you. come. out. Can. I. get. anything. for. you? A. coke?"

He hesitated, then plunged ahead, "A Chicago Bulls t-shirt?"

Bego laughed, or tried. It embarrassed her how poorly she laughed. "I. will. buy. one. if. I. can. find. it. for. you," she promised. She would buy some soda for him as well.

The two Egyptians headed into the desert. They had received a raise yesterday for the added distance they had to travel, but it was still relatively easy work with exceptionally good pay and they laughed and joked with each other as they headed down a trail, the start of which had become familiar.

* * *

"Got time for another quickie this morning?" Donner asked.

"You really like playing with the guys' heads, don't you?" Shego answered.

"Not a lot else to do on this trip to hell, is there?"

Shego probably got on better with the Special Ops forces than Donner, but he was right, there wasn't much to joke about. She raised her voice slightly, "Again? You animal! Wasn't last night enough?"

"I can't help it," he replied in a stage whisper, "you're just so sexy."

Soon quiet moans and the sound of flesh slapping against flesh (Donner's hand against his thigh) could be faintly heard in other tents.

Sneezy closed his eyes and smiled as he imagined what was going on in the other tent. Grumpy wished they'd kept it down and let him sleep another five minutes. And Happy wondered how erotic thoughts were even possible in these conditions.

* * *

Kim woke with a queasy stomach, and wondered if the problem was physical or psychological. She had gotten a little over half the molokhia down yesterday before losing her appetite completely. She still had no appetite, but figured the best cure was something else in her stomach to take her mind off last night's dinner.

Colonel Abbas began his day by seeking out the soldier who had awakened him and apologizing. While he hated to have his sleep disturbed the man had been right. The colonel let Global Justice try and interview the prisoner, but made it clear to them that he regarded the man as an Egyptian prisoner.

"But you don't know he has committed any crime!" Kim protested.

"At the very least he has been wandering around my country without proper passport or identification," the Colonel replied. "That is reason enough to arrest him. And you know he was not out here by accident. He should be charged with espionage when we know more."

The Asian, not surprisingly, appeared to know none of the Middle Eastern languages Dr. Kemal spoke. And he stared blankly when questioned in English as well.

Agent Haskell knew a little Japanese and tried to speak with Chang. "Well," he reported afterwards, "he doesn't understand Japanese. Or he's pretending he doesn't understand Japanese. Or he's deaf. I can't tell."

LaTisha clapped her hands together loudly and the startled Chang turned to look at her. "We can rule out deaf," she told Haskell.

"Smart-ass," Haskell muttered under his breath.

* * *

The tension between Wade and Joss in the Team Possible camp was even starting to depress the usually cheery Tim, which was perhaps just as well. Jim was so irritable that, had his brother asked, "Is it that time of the month for you?" he would have punched him. Then Drakken almost drove the rest of the group into a bloodthirsty rage.

"What is that?" Jim demanded.

"It sounds like… Drakken humming." Tim said - and looked out of the tent to see the blue man mixing vitamin fortified fruit flavoring into water for the 'juice' at breakfast.

"What is wrong with you?" Wade shouted.

"Happy faces, people," Drakken called cheerily, "Happy faces! Today or tomorrow we should find out whatever's causing the field."

"We don't know we'll find it," Jim snarled, "and somebody else may already be there."

"Nonsense," Drakken responded. "We're all geniuses. We have to win."

* * *

No one felt any happiness in the Russian camp. Gregorii and Vlad were grumpy from lack of sleep, but they boasted of the killings. The other three regarded them with disgust, and Dmitri and Joseph mourned the loss of their friend. Misha worked on the simple breakfast preparations. As he prepared to take a bottle of water to Atwood-Long, however, Gregorii bellowed, "NO! The prisoner will receive nothing to drink!" loudly enough for Atwood-Long to hear.

"It is not yours to give the command," Dmitri shouted.

"And if you'd let me question him days ago we'd know what we looked for, or he would be dead."

"But he can still be of help."

"Only if he gives us information of use. A day without food? Nothing? At the end of the day in this heat he will tell us what we need to know."

Dmitri shrugged. He knew Gregorii was right, he simply wished the man had spoken with him first instead of issuing it like his own command. They had spent too much time fighting yesterday, and wasted a life. Today they must find what they sought.

* * *

Kim chafed at the delay in getting started, but recognized the necessity of waiting as Colonel Abbas addressed the assembled group.

"+We have not been able to learn anything of the man who came into our camp+" he told the troops as Dr. Kemal translated for the Global Justice agents. "+But we will increase security whenever we make camp. In the meantime, it appears a crime has been committed. Global Justice will try and backtrack to find where the wounded man came from. Dr. Farouk will accompany them in case there are any other injured men. I need a half dozen volunteers to go with them for security. You will carry only your weapons and minimal provisions and return to our main camp by this evening. Sergeant Khalid will command the detail.+"

Fifteen men stepped forward, and Khalid called out the names of the six he wanted.

"Don't try and go so far today," Abbas warned Kim and those who took the point position. "Remember, some need to investigate what happened, and some will be carrying extra loads."

"And the prisoner?"

"I will leave him here with four guards for now. The men bringing in supplies can transport him out when they go. The four guards will also need to catch up with the main body by this evening as well."

Kim frowned, but nodded agreement. Her heart had been set on another good day of travel.

* * *

The Team Possible II stared up at a high rock face that blocked their movement further south. Jim pointed to a fissure on the cliff, "I made my last alignment with that. I'd like to climb up here, if we can, so I can take my next sighting."

"We're so close I can almost smell it," Tim said.

"But there's no way Ibrahim is getting supplies over this," Joss stated. "Wade, you stay here and wait for supplies. Tim, head east - see if you can find an opening in this. Doc, we need you to head west and see if you can find a way through."

"You and Jim?" the blue man asked.

"We're gonna climb this, take our bearings from the top. Gotta keep moving in a straight line for the search."

* * *

To the east the Russians went through the passage discovered by Boris and Misha the day before. It widened into one of the larger, relatively flat areas they'd seen in their travels. A solid, high ridge of rock ran along the northern edge of the landscape. Far to the west it appeared there was a passage similar to the one through which they entered. The southern edge of the area was a jumble of rocks, tumbled as if by some long-past earthquakes. The area could be searched, but it would not be easy.

"We are close," Dmitri announced. He gestured to the wild landscape on the southern edge of the valley, "It is in there, somewhere."

Leslie pondered his options. He could reach what they wanted in forty minutes from their present position. But the first time he stood where they were standing now it had taken him five days to find it. Was cooperation or keeping his mouth shut the best means for prolonging his life?

* * *

Back-tracking to the Chinese camp started relatively well. By spreading out and following the most likely path Chang would have used they were able to follow the trail marked with occasional drops of blood with ease. After about half an hour Jake announced, "We don't need to bother finding trail."

"Why not?" Will demanded.

Jake pointed to the distance, "Most likely those vultures are where we're heading. I say we save time and head straight there."

Will hesitated.

"You know he's right," LaTisha seconded.

"Jacobi, scout the perimeter," Will ordered when they arrived. "Jackson, Duncan, and I will look for any evidence we can find here." The old agent nodded and began to circle the area in an increasing spiral. "Sergeant Khalid, if your men could improvise some way to dig a hole and bury the pieces, after Dr. Farouk's examination, it would be… appropriate."

"Indeed," the Egyptian said and shouted out some commands in Arabic.

The jackals and vultures had not left much for the doctor to examine. A couple of the fat, happy black birds objected strenuously to being asked to leave the restaurant. Farouk tried to examine the remains for clues, but quickly realized there was simply too much carnage and not enough time.

"Five persons killed by person or persons unknown," he announced and quickly walked away from what had been the middle of the Chinese camp.

LaTisha watched him move to the side and throw up, before sitting down on a rock to regain his composure.

The black woman walked over, "You okay?"

The doctor smiled ruefully, "I fear I will confirm some of your prejudice. I am not a forensic pathologist. I work with the living, not the dead, and this…"

"It's okay," she told him. "First time I had to deal with a crime scene I puked my guts out. You're normal."

The doctor closed his eyes and nodded, "Thanks."

"No problem. Can I apologize for being such a jerk when I met you? I shouldn't have said what I did."

"That is all right, Ms. Jackson. I forget how… is the term brash? honest? irritating? you American women can be."

"Yeah, we're that - and more. But call me LaTisha, please."

"All right, LaTisha, you may call me Alawi."

Their conversation was cut short by a call from Jake, "Hey, Willy boy! Something odd out here."

Will gritted his teeth, glanced around and found Agent Jackson neglecting her duties and gestured for her to join him in investigating Jake's find. Dr. Farouk went along as well.

Jake was moving stones and digging in the sand when they arrived.

"What's up?" LaTisha asked.

"Ground disturbed, something buried here… Hold on." Jake had discovered an arm, and pulled out the body of Boris.

"Not an Asian," LaTisha remarked matter-of-factly. "The bodies over there," she nodded in the direction of the carnage, "were probably friends with the wounded man. Attackers buried their own."

"Not Atwood-Long," Jake pointed out. "I'm gonna guess Russian."

"No evidence of that," LaTisha shot back.

"And not likely to be. Hell, he could be American, Swedish, or a Polack. But I'll bet he doesn't have a lick of ID on him."

Will sighed, "The question is, whether the Asians had Atwood-Long and he's one of the bodies over there, or was he taken by the attackers, or did the attackers have Atwood-Long and we simply have no way of knowing why they attacked? Agent Jacobi, please rebury the corpse. Agent Jackson and I will see if we can find any evidence of the attackers' trail."

Without proper equipment to investigate the crime scene, and not wanting to fall too far behind the rest of the expedition, Will knew it was unlikely they could track anyone on the rocky ground. They'd search for another half hour and then head back toward the main group.

* * *

The SERE men caught up with the US group just outside a pass leading through some rough terrain. Donner and Doc thought their target was probably just ahead in an especially rocky area on the south side of the passage. Sleepy agreed, and wanted to begin the search _now_. He requested permission to scout the passage with Bashful while the others distributed the supplies,

"It's really time to take a break," Doc warned them.

"I don't need no steenking break, I need to keep moving," Sleepy insisted.

Donner shrugged, "Go ahead."

"Don't go too far," Sneezy warned.

"We won't. But, damn, it's so close now I can almost smell it!"

"That's Happy. Man needs to change his socks."

"Find a good spot for camp, about mid-way through," Donner suggested.

The passage was broad and flat. "This has got to be the easiest day yet," Sleepy grinned. He pointed ahead and a little to the left, "And whatever it is has got to be in there somewhere."

Bashful looked at the jumbled rocks and didn't think finding things would be so easy. Before he could say anything, however, Sleepy's hand fell on his shoulder and pulled him down.

"Quiet," the Marine hissed.

"What's wrong?" his buddy whispered.

"Movement up ahead, about two-thirds of a mile on the right. Think I saw someone."

The two hugged the bottom of the cliff on the north as they cautiously worked forward.

The Russians had pitched their camp where it could be hidden among boulders. But in hiding it among the boulders they provided cover for the Marines.

They saw one man, his arm splinted but apparently not giving him any problem, getting the camp set up. As they watched they heard someone call from a tent, "I say, I could really use some water."

"Ready to help us yet?"

"No."

"No water."

Bashful put his mouth almost on Sleepy's ear, "Atwood-Long?" he whispered.

Sleepy nodded yes, and whispered to this friend, "Go back. Tell others. I'll watch."

* * *

Kim felt frustration as she and the men with her found a good area to stop for the night. A mile or two ahead of loomed a high cliff. She would have liked to reach it, but the rest of the expedition might not have caught up before darkness fell, and she had already probably traveled further than the Colonel would have liked. But since he, and everyone else, wanted to discover the source of the electro-magnetic interference as soon as possible she doubted anyone would complain.

Kim scanned the area ahead with binoculars. There she saw no visible barriers to hiking along the north wall of the rock face, but she saw no breaks in the cliff itself. She wasn't certain, but on the eastern edge there appeared to be a passageway of some sort leading into the center of the rocky area. She wondered which path they should take tomorrow, skirt along the cliff or go into the interior? They were close to where they needed to go, which route would be faster to the true center?

While she pondering that question she saw three men on camels emerge from the passage and head east. She was almost tempted to run and try to catch up with them, but they were too far away and traveling faster than she could manage. _"We go into the passage tomorrow,"_ she told herself.

If LaTisha or Will had been with her she'd have left them in charge and moved ahead to investigate the passage. Unfortunately she had to responsible. "Okay, men," she barked, "let's figure out the layout of the camp for tonight."

Dr. Kemal translated her words, and the advance party set to work.

* * *

"Three small tents was all?" Donner asked again.

"All we could see from our angle. There could have been a couple more we couldn't see. Big awning with open sides. Everything camo."

"But only saw the one man?" Happy asked

"Yeah, and heard the thirsty guy. We watched a good twenty minutes. Best guess is anyone else is out looking for the whatever."

"The question," Sneezy pointed out, "is what to do with whoever is there with the Englishman. Do we tie him up and leave him? Eliminate him? Try and take care of the whole group?"

"We're really not equipped to handle prisoners," Donner pointed out.

"I'm against killing," Shego stated flatly.

"We didn't plan on prisoners, but we could do it," Grumpy said. "Send 'em back to the ship with the SERE men."

"They will not see the ship," Donner insisted. "They don't see or hear one thing that proves we're Americans."

"And when we leave?"

"Hell, I don't care. Give 'em water and turn 'em loose. But they don't see the ship."

"And the Brit?" Bashful asked, "He's not helping them, and they're withholding water. What do we do with him?"

Donner wished he was back in his office in DC in air-conditioning. The last two satellite shots showed the Egyptians were moving so fast that they might hit the valley by tonight - tomorrow for certain if they failed to make it this far today. Donner considered just letting the Egyptians figure things out. If the Brit hasn't spilled his guts to his captors he wouldn't tell the Americans anything.

Donner sighed, "We can sit tight and let the Egyptians solve this. Easiest for us. We're not going to get there first. We can't do anything with the Brit but turn him loose. There's a chance his captors… My money's on the Russian, with Germans to place and Israel to show. They may kill the Brit. Not our fault."

"And if they open fire on Global Justice?" Shego asked.

"Still not our problem."

"I'm damned tired of nothing but hiking in the heat," Happy said. "Let's stage a rescue. I want some action!"

"Kick butt!" Sneezy voted, and Grumpy nodded.

Shego figured Kim would be the lead of the Global Justice contingent, and didn't want any bullets headed her way, "I'm in favor of a rescue and stopping the… I'm going to go Czechs, what the hell. We should all put a buck in a pool and guess a nationality."

Donner sighed, "Maybe it's for the best if we intervene. The US might be able to work with the Egyptians if they find what we're looking for. We can't work with these guys. Like us they're probably willing to blow it up if they have to. We got to take them--"

"Kill them?" Grumpy asked.

"No," Donner said slowly. "If we're caught by the Egyptians, and I don't want us to be, we're better off with prisoners than corpses. Maybe we'll just tie them up and dump them on the Egyptians."

As they packed light provisions, weapons, and medical gear for the raid on the 'Russian' camp Donner made another announcement. "No one speak to the Brit. He might recognize an American accent."

"He's going to think it's funny to be freed by mutes," Doc retorted.

"Bashful, you speak Spanish, right?"

The Marine nodded.

"You're in charge of the prisoner. Anyone else speak Spanish?"

"A little," Shego admitted.

"Well, make sure you say some in front of Atwood-Long before we turn him loose."

* * *

Jim and Joss reached the top of the cliff, and found a valley on the other side. The ridge they stood on appeared to go for miles to the east and west, and they hoped either Drakken or Tim had some luck finding a passage for them to go through. Supplies had been left by the time they climbed back down to where they had left Wade.

"Hope somebody's got some good news," Joss muttered. "We may as well camp here for the night."

Drakken didn't have good news when he finally got back. "I went about ten miles," he panted. (Joss and Jim guessed two at the most.) "There is a passage over there - but four men were walking away from it as I got there. I saw some sort of campsite."

"Who were they?" Wade asked.

Drakken rolled his eyes, "Well, I couldn't very well ask them to introduce themselves now, could I?"

"Sorry, Drew. A little tense here."

Tim's news wasn't any better when he got back. "I'm guessing around three miles from here there's a passage around the end of this. Problem is I could see a big group of people headed this way. It's probably the Egyptian bunch. There's no way we can bring supplies around that way. You have any better luck, Doc?"

"His news was as bad as yours," Jim said glumly. "Got someone else working the west passage. We could go over the top here, but we wouldn't be getting any supplies."

"And Egyptians will be in there tomorrow so there's no way to avoid them," Tim added.

Wade admitted defeat. "Should we just chuck it all and go home? We tried. We lost."

"No!" Drakken answered, "We haven't lost yet. I say we stay in the field until we know what's happening for certain."

"This is so wrong," Jim murmured. "Wade, you're the optimist. You can do anything."

"No, I can't," he replied sadly.

"Doc… Well, you're just crazy… Or maybe I'm crazy. I'm the guy who says we can't do things. Well, we just invested a week of our lives getting out here. I gotta go with Drakken - it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings."

Joss added her two cents, "Well, if it turns out to be that big ol' monster waiting to swallow the curious they might want some professional monster hunters."

* * *

The Americans worked in until they were about a hundred yards from where Bashful left Sleepy. The Marine went ahead and got his buddy to come back for the planning session.

"Anyone else come back?" Donner asked.

"No, still the one guy and prisoner."

"Let us take him," Sneezy requested, pointing to Grumpy.

"Nope, Snowy's job," Donney told him.

"Sending a girl to do the job of two men," Doc grinned.

"And she seems like a hell of a woman," Happy commented.

"Don't know if any of you muscle-heads have noticed," Donner said dryly, "but she's already gone."

"God damn!" Sleepy muttered looking around. "I'm glad she's on our side."

The seven moved quietly forward to the Marines' earlier position. Joseph was face down on the ground, Shego's foot was on the back of his head and she had his good arm twisted behind him. She waved with her free hand, "Pasen!"

"Huh," someone grunted.

"Come on in," Bashful translated.

Grumpy chuckled softly and slapped Donner on the back, "Damn, she's good! Why do we need you?"

Sneezy and Grumpy moved Joseph over where he could be questioned without being overheard. Bashful found the tent with the Englishman. Atwood-Long was startled to see a new face looking at him, which turned to fear as the man pulled a large knife, but the stranger only cut the bonds on the prisoner.

"Thanks awfully, old chap. Don't suppose you've a spot of water?"

"Escucha, pedazo de idiota, sabes aunque sea una palabra de español?" Bashful demanded.

Atwood-Long looked puzzled, "No hab-lo Spanish-o."

Bashful sighed, they might keep the Englishman from figuring out they were Americans, but questioning him would be difficult.

The Englishman mimed opening a bottle and drinking.

"Agua? Quieres agua, inútil?"

"Aqua, see." Leslie nodded his head.

Bashful handed him a canteen, and the English drank greedily. Finally he wiped his lips and mimed putting something in his mouth and chewing. Then he rubbed his stomach and announced, "Yum-yum."

The Marine almost laughed. If there wasn't serious business to conduct just watching this twit might be fun. He motioned for the Englishman to stay and left the tent. He found the others, "Guy claims he's hungry. What have we got?"

Grumpy reached in a pack, pulled out a couple protein bars and one high-carb, tossed them to the Force Recon man and requested, "Find out how many others there are."

Joseph provided them with name, rank, and serial number - but neglected to mention whose army. Donner looked like he wanted to begin a more aggressive interrogation and Shego wasn't certain what to do, but the Rangers told Donner flatly, "No. He's told us all he has to tell us."

"But--"

"Geneva convention. Some of us remember it, and follow it."

Donner turned to Shego, but before he could say a word she told him, "I'm with them."

The Intelligence agent muttered a curse, "Well, gag him!" he ordered the Rangers. "We can't have him warning his buddies."

Meanwhile, the Latino Marine returned to the tent. He considered a few more insults, but he had serious priorities.

"Es vital que sepamos cuantos hay allá afuera." He pointed outside the tent. "Había un hombre aqui." He raised one finger in the air on his left hand. "Cuantos más? Uno? Dos? Tres? Cuatro?" As he counted slowly he raised a finger for each number on his right hand. Even the Englishman had to recognize he was counting.

Leslie stared blankly.

Bashful sighed, _"Dopey's need for secrecy is a pain in the butt. I'll try this one more time before I tell him it's hopeless."_ The Marine pointed down and wiggled his finger in a small circle to indicate the camp. "Uno aqui," He held up one finger on his left hand again. "Cuantos más? Uno? Dos? Tres? Cuatro?" He repeated the gesture of raising fingers on his right hand as he counted.

This time the Englishman understood. He held up a single finger on his left hand, "There was the one guard here." He held up his right hand, fingers outstretched. He moved his thumb outward, then hid it in his palm. He repeated the gesture. "There were five others, but I haven't seen one today and they seemed awfully out of sorts. Not sure if their number is four or five now."

"Habían cinco," the Marine yelled. "Uno puede estar MIA o AWOL. Podrían quedar solo cuatro. Me escuchas?"

Shego shouted back, "La masa no está para bollo!"

Leslie made a move towards the door of the tent, and Bashful put up an arm, barring the way.

The Englishman pointed outside and raised his hands in a gesture of 'Why?' "What's the problem?" he asked.

The Marine knew his Spanish persona could figure out that question. He held up his right hand, five fingers outstretched, "Los otros cinco, recuerdas?"

* * *

The four guards who had stayed until Chang was on his way back to civilization made it to the Egyptian camp before those who investigated the Chinese camp.

The sun started to go down, and Will's group had not arrived. Kim tried to head out of camp, and a sentry barred her way. Eventually Dr. Kemal explained the Colonel had given orders, no one would leave the camp alone.

Abdul objected to Kim pulling Ron off mess duty, but rank has its privileges. The two met the security detail a half-mile outside camp.

Will went into extensive detail with Kim over how little they found. Jake tried to give enough gory details about the bodies to make Ron sick. And both Kim and Ron noticed that LaTisha and Dr. Farouk were walking together.

* * *

In the early dusk the Americans waited for the Atwood-Long's captors to return. They should be back before it became too dark to find their way. Joseph was as worried as the others, but took heart when he heard what sounded like the cry of a bird.

There were few birds in the outer desert, and none of them sounded like the altai snowcock, not surprising when the closest one would have been found in Siberia. The Americans ignored the sound. Joseph smiled. When no answering cry came from the camp his friends would know something was wrong.

In the gloom Misha and Vlad looked at each other. "+Should I repeat the signal?+" Misha asked.

"+He knows his duty.+"

As the two crept cautiously toward their own camp they wished they had more cover. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as they moved from rock to rock. Both had pistols drawn, despite orders not to use them. If enemies were in camp the rules were suspended.

Vlad finally managed to peer into camp, and cursed under his breath. He saw Joseph stretched out under the canopy. "+The fool is asleep+" he whispered to Misha.

The two holstered their pistols, but still moved quietly as they approached their dozing comrade. "+Awake, you idiot!+" Misha hissed.

The man with Joseph's coloring, wearing Joseph's clothes, suddenly had his own pistol pointed at them. So did two men who appeared on either side. "I think you two might want to raise your hands," Sneezy, the man in Joseph's clothing, told them.

Happy removed Vlad's pistol as Sleepy disarmed Misha.

The Special Forces training might have omitted a point police never forget, never move between the suspect and the officer covering him with a gun. As Happy focused on removing the Vlad's pistol the Russian pulled his knife.

The Russian was no coward and, perhaps just as some SEALS accept their own myth of invincibility, he thought he could take all those around him.

The taller Ranger screamed in pain as the knife went in him.

Vlad's own training had not stressed the importance of slashing instead of stabbing with a blade. Before he could even pull the knife out of Happy an enraged Grumpy grabbed the Russian from behind, pulling him away from the Army Ranger. Vlad struggled as the SEAL's right arm went around his head. Sneezy and Doc were too concerned with Happy to notice the struggle, and Sleepy's focus was on keeping Misha out of the fight.

"You're going to kill him!" Shego warned.

In the heat of anger Grumpy didn't hear her. Or he didn't care. He had Vlad's head turned and struggled to apply more pressure.

Shego's warning caught Sneezy's attention, "Stop!"

Grumpy didn't stop. There was a sickening snap and the Russian's head twisted into a grotesque angle. Grumpy dropped the limp form and stood, panting and trembling.

Shego went to get Donner, who had been watching Joseph.

"Man down!" she hissed.

They had trussed up Joseph so well Donner left him to find out what was happening.

Grumpy was watching Misha as Sleepy checked Vlad. "Dead. I thought people could live with broken necks."

Doc was trying to examine Happy, who moaned with pain. "Depends on where it's broken," he called over his shoulder. "Break at the higher cervical vertebrae and death in two minutes. Spinal shock and it's pretty much instantaneous."

No one spoke to Grumpy. No one knew what to say.

Donner had to make a lot of decisions, and fast. He hoped he guessed right. "Get rid of the Englishman, now."

"Why?"

"We've got two prisoners, a wounded man, and two or three Russians unaccounted for. We can't watch the Brit too."

"Isn't it dangerous to just turn him loose?"

Donner frowned, "Yeah. Snowy - tell Bashful to take him to the Egyptian camp. If they had any kind of a day they're right outside the pass on the east. Tell him to keep his gun out. Doc, see what you do for Happy. Give us a report, quick. I'm watching prisoners. Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy - you three on perimeter. Snowy will join you once Atwood-Long is on his way."

"Want me to go with Bashful?" Shego asked.

Donner hesitated. "Hell, I'd like you to go with him, help Doc, watch prisoners, and stay on guard duty. But keeping watch is the big one for now. This is home base for our friends. Stick around."

Shego stuck her head in the tent, "Fuera. Encuentra campamento Egipcio."

Bashful almost smiled at her accent, but noted the worried look on her face, "Qué pasa?"

"Happy recibió un cuchillo."

The Marine hesitated.

"Dopey dice ve. Suficientes problemas ahora, no necesita otros. Ve mientras hay luz. Saca la pistola – hay dos sin contra."

"Regresaré pronto." Bashful promised.

Shego had her own fast return to make, to the canopy where Doc knelt over Happy, looking at the knife sticking out of his friend.

The green woman's throat was dry as she croaked, "Is he going to make it?"

Doc didn't try to hide the worry in his voice, "I don't know… I don't know…"

* * *

Joss had difficulty falling asleep. The trouble she admitted she blamed on the heat and the rocky ground. The trouble she would not admit could be blamed on the circumstances. They wouldn't have gone without her. This whole stupid mission was her fault. Why had she agreed to come along? Perhaps it was sense of adventure, although she had experienced so many of those the last two years she dismissed the idea. She hated Wade. She wanted to see him suffer… Or did she just want to see him? No, she had agreed to come simply to be with Jim and Tim one more time before leaving for college.

Finally, unable to stand the stuffy tent for a moment longer she unzipped the flap and went out into the cool of the night. She planned to watch the stars for a while and try sleeping again, but found someone else out watching the heavens.

"What are you doin' here," she hissed at him.

Wade sighed, "Just watching the sky."

Joss moved defiantly over and sat by another rock, leaning back against it. She would not let Wade keep her from looking at the stars. They weren't his and she had just as much right to stare at them. On the ranch in Montana Joss could see the heavens filled with stars. In Middleton there was too much light pollution for a good view. She wondered if Wade had ever seen stars as bright as these - then reminded herself she didn't care.

The two remained, silently sitting some ten feet apart for a quarter hour.

Joss broke the silence, "What happened, Wade?"

"Couldn't sleep… Wondered if getting outside might help. I--"

"I don't mean now! You know what I mean."

Wade closed his eyes and leaned back against his rock, afraid to look at her. "I really thought you said yes," he finally said.

"Maybe I did… earlier that night," she admitted softly. "But I got scared… I said no. I kept saying no… And you didn't listen."

"All I heard was the yes. I couldn't think after that. I wanted you so much. I loved you. You can't know how much I wanted you."

"It's not love if you do that!"

"You could have stopped me. You should have stopped me. I wish you'd hit me or something."

"Damn it, Wade! Don't blame me! I loved you, how can you hurt someone you love?" Joss suddenly fled back to her tent.

_"I did,"_ Wade thought. He moved over to her tent and knelt beside it. He could hear her crying inside. "I'm sorry," he said so softly he had no idea whether she could hear him or not. "I'd give anything, do anything, to change that night." Then he moved back to stare again at the heavens. He couldn't remember the last night he had slept well.

* * *

The Marine saw the lights of the Egyptian camp and halted. He guessed it was another kilometer to the camp. He pointed the lights out to the Englishman and gestured for Leslie to go to the camp.

"I'm supposed to go to the people down there?" Atwood-Long asked.

"No, cabeza de alcornoque. Muevo la mano porque me encanta la brisa. Mueve el culo."

The Englishman still hesitated. He didn't know who the camp belonged to, and thus far the chap who spoke the funny language had been decent to him.

Bashful pointed his pistol at the Englishman's head. Then he pointed the pistol at the camp. He made a small shooing motion with the barrel of the gun.

Leslie decided it was a lovely night for a jog and began trotting toward the Egyptian camp as Bashful turned and began making his way back to the US group as swiftly as possible.

* * *

Dmitri and Gregorii did not to return to the Russian camp that evening. Their quest had been successful - they had found the cave of wonders, the city in the sands. They explored only a portion before night fell and they decided to spend the night there and return to camp for the others the next day.


	9. Day 9: Eureka Part 1

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

Thanks for RonHeartbreaker in this chapter for his voice in the falafel - taamiya debate.

**Day 9: Eureka - Part I**

Leslie had his closest brush with death on his approach to the Egyptian-Global Justice camp when a nervous Egyptian sentry fired at the sound of his approach.

Atwood-Long dropped to the ground and resolved to stay there until he could creep away to somewhere safe in the morning. The shot, however, awakened some of those sleeping in the camp and the Englishman heard a commotion as the sentry was questioned.

"+Who is there?+" an Egyptian shouted in Arabic.

Les, whose Arabic was largely limited to drink orders and requests on how to find a bathroom said nothing.

"Anyone there?" a Global Justice agent called.

"Yes," came a tentative call from the night.

"Who are you?"

"Atwood-Long is the name, I--"

"Leslie Atwood-Long?"

"Rather! I say, can--"

"Hold on, we'll be right with you!"

Normal flashlights, of course, didn't work. But a half dozen Global Justice agents bent the over-sized glow sticks they carried, breaking the glass capsule inside and starting the chemical reaction that gave them a small light. The agents moved out in pairs, in case this was some sort of trap.

"Over here, chaps," Les called to a pair who appeared closer than the others. He almost collapsed from joy, exhaustion, and a lack of adequate food as Jake and Ron reached him. The two brought him into camp and roused Abdul to prepare something for him to eat. Kim came to the Englishman's defense when both Colonel Abbas and Will Du wanted to question him immediately. Leslie was assigned a place to sleep, and Abbas posted six men around the tent.

The arrival of Atwood-Long in the Global Justice camp brought a distinct feeling of elation. No one slept through his arrival when some of the Egyptians celebrated the event by firing off guns into the air. The Egyptian officers had been inclined to let their men celebrate as they wanted. Will Du and Kim complained it would tell everyone for miles around the location of their camp. The Egyptians pointed out the location of their large group could hardly be a secret.

Dr. Farouk suggested that, after more than a week of captivity, Atwood-Long be sent to Cairo for a complete physical and rest. The Brit refused to consider evacuation. He was the one who had found it, and, damn it all, he would not let one of these brown men claim credit for his discovery

* * *

In the Russian camp the bound Joseph and Misha had been dragged to where they could be watched more easily. Concern over Happy made some of the men neglect their guard duty - although the open space between the hidden camp and the rocky area where the other Russians were presumed to be searching meant that one man could keep watch alone. Sleepy and Grumpy stayed on duty as the rest clustered around Doc and Happy. The short medic had given his friend a shot of morphine before he began the examination.

"What do you think?" Donner asked.

"I think he's in trouble. I need to take the knife out, and he's going to lose blood when I do. He's B positive--"

"So am I," Donner said.

"Good, didn't see your medical records."

"And I'm O negative, universal donor, right?" Sneezy spoke up.

"But I can't do this in the dark. We can light all the candles we have and they won't give me the light I need… I don't think he can last until the sun comes up. I don't even know if I can do it."

"Try, Steve," Happy moaned. "Ya gotta try."

"You need light?" Shego asked, "I'll give you light," and her hands flared into a light so dazzling it hurt the eyes of everyone who had grown accustomed to the dimness.

"How did you--" Doc began.

"Never mind, just get to work."

"How long can you do that?"

"Long enough," she told him. "I can do heat and explosive force to, but those take a lot more out of me."

Joseph and Misha began talking in a language the others didn't know when they saw the light, but shut up when someone told them to keep quiet.

Bashful made it back from taking Leslie to the Egyptian camp an hour and a half after Doc started. The short Ranger was still working on his friend, and didn't want to admit to anyone how scared he was. He took a pint and a half of blood from Donner, and another pint and a half from Sneezy before he finished what he could do, and lay back on the ground, totally spent.

Shego, her hands still lit up looked Happy over, Donner beside her.

"Well, what do you think?" Shego whispered to the little medic.

"I'm not sure. I got him stabilized. But we need him out of here as soon as possible. These weren't great conditions and I'm worried about peritonitis. I've given him antibiotics, but he needs real medical care. And it's going to be a son of a bitch to carry him out of here."

"He's going to be okay," Sneezy assured him. "He'll get out just fine with the SERE guys who bring in the supplies." The SEAL looked over at the woman who had provided the light, "You're Shego, aren't you?"

"No, I--"

"I grew up in Bannockburn, used to see you on the news. You're a hero."

"There is no more Shego, and I'm sure as hell no hero. I just want this over so I can go home."

"Amen," Sneezy said softly.

"You were incredible," Donner told the short Ranger.

"No, I wasn't," Doc replied. "You don't know good. I do. You know that fifty percent doctors graduate in the bottom half of their class? That's where I was. After Nine-eleven I dropped out of residency and enlisted so I wouldn't kill anyone by accident in the OR. Damn Army made me a medic. Worked my ass off to get into the Rangers. Still a medic."

"And you just saved your buddy's life," Shego reminded him.

Doc looked at the sleeping Happy. "Maybe. Won't know for a couple days. At least he's got a chance now, but we got to get him out of here and get real medical care."

A search of the Russian camp had uncovered their high explosives. Sleepy carried those out. The Russians were untied under Grumpy's supervision and told the drag out the body of Vlad when they left. "We're leaving no bodies in your camp - or three, your choice."

The awning was taken down and folded into a makeshift stretcher for Happy which the other six carried. Every little bump on the three-mile hike back to the American camp seemed a bigger jolt to the six carrying the injured man than it did to the sleeping Ranger.

* * *

Despite the circumstances things seemed better in the Team Possible II camp that morning. After their talk in the night a little of the edge between Wade and Joss seemed to have dissipated. The group faced no long hike that day and chatted about plans as Drakken worked on a double batch of cinnamon rolls.

"I think we should go into the Egyptian camp and offer our services," Tim suggested. "I mean, we're here legally and everything…" He turned to the blue man, "We are here legally, right?"

"Even my daughter, Anna," Drakken assured him, referring to the name used by Bego on her passport.

"We need to stay under their radar for awhile," Jim countered.

"Why's that?" Joss wanted to know.

"Well, for one thing we don't know who has Atwood-Long, and you got to figure they're around here somewhere."

"That bunch Drew saw over to the east?" Wade suggested.

"That would be my guess. If we can give the Egyptians and Global Justice some solid information on them, maybe even free the Brit and bring him in I think we'll get welcomed like heroes."

Joss thought for minute. "Jim and I made it to the top of the cliff here yesterday. We didn't see how far we could go along the ridge, but looked like it might go pretty far to both east and west. After breakfast how 'bout Jim and I go up there and see if we can find that camp Doc saw on the west. Tim, you and Wade climb up with us and head east. See how the Egyptians are comin' long."

"What about me?" Drakken asked.

"Well, Ibrahim should be gettin' supplies to us here. Why don't you just wait here?"

Drakken smiled, "So, I'll have time to fix a real lunch today?"

* * *

In the Egyptian camp Kim and Will were asked to sit in with the officers as they discussed options.

"There are at least two groups ahead of us," an officer, whose name Kim couldn't remember, summarized. "At least one of them is guilty of kidnapping… Mr. Atwood-Long? Comments? Who were those people?"

The Englishman hesitated, "I'm not sure. They only spoke in English in front of me, but it didn't seem natural."

"How many were there?" Will demanded.

"There were six to start with. Then two days ago one wasn't there. I don't know--"

Will interrupted with a description of Boris.

Leslie shrugged, "It sounds like him."

Col. Abbas joined those questioning the Englishman, "And your rescuers captured how many of those who were holding you?"

"I really can't be certain. They must have captured the man who was guarding me. They wouldn't let me leave for hours. Then suddenly the woman said something and the man with me was in a hurry to get rid of me."

"The woman?" Will asked.

"Yes, very pale for the desert, I--"

The officer who had begun the summary continued, "You said your rescuers spoke Spanish?"

"I think it was Spanish… Some Dago language anyway."

Kim decided she didn't like Leslie Atwood-Long.

Colonel Abbas seemed puzzled and whispered something to Dr. Kemal. The translator whispered something back, and the Colonel frowned. Kim suspected the Colonel didn't like Mr. Atwood-Long either.

Will broke in, "How many were in the group who rescued you? We really need some term for them other than rescuers until we better comprehend their motivation."

"Call them Venezuelans," Kim suggested.

"Well, I only saw the two, the man who was watching me and the woman. But there must of have been more. I mean, the man was watching me and the woman couldn't have done anything."

Kim decided she really didn't like Leslie Atwood-Long.

Abbas began speaking with his officers in Arabic. When Will tried to say something about the role of Global Justice an officer informed Will and Kim that they were discussing an Egyptian military operation and Global Justice would remain in camp.

Kim reminded them of her report about seeing camels coming out of the entrance to the valley yesterday and a couple Egyptians suddenly remembered they could speak English. She was asked to lead a small squad over to where she had seen the men who were assumed to be bringing supplies and wait see if they returned. Assuming they did, Kim would wave good-bye to the soldiers as they traced back the source of the supplies and return to camp as the main body of Egyptians secured the valley ahead.

Conversation remained in English as Atwood-Long was given pencil and paper and asked to sketch what lay ahead.

* * *

Dmitri explored the ship as Gregorii looked for anything he could find to remove. The Russian leader carried several candles and butane lighters with him in his pockets. He lit a candle as he went deeper into the darkness.

Designed for interstellar travel the ship was huge. The Russian had no idea how much of what he saw might function. Some objects had crumbled, disintegrating into piles of dust, while other devices appeared serviceable. The materials engineers in Moscow would love to find what these were made of.

One opening into the ship appeared to be a crack, perhaps from the same long ago earthquake that had left much of the vessel buried under rock. Or perhaps it had been cracked in whatever accident left the vessel stranded on this planet. The second opening appeared to be a hatch. Whether the ancient crew had left it open, people exploring the ship had opened it centuries earlier or the hydraulics keeping it closed had failed the two Russians could not tell.

_"Now that we know the way we could hike out in two days,"_ Gregorii thought. He doubted they had enough explosives to destroy the ship, but they could damage it greatly. Hopefully Russia could learn things from what they carried out. They didn't need the Englishman any more. As he gathered small items he wondered if they needed Dmitri either. If the man did not return Gregorii would receive any praise for the mission. Gregorii smiled, if he found loads for four men Dmitri would not be going back. Loads for five and Dmitri would live.

The Russian leader wondered what the crew had looked like as he prowled through what must have been their quarters. Sometimes the scale suggested something larger than human beings, and sometimes something smaller. Perhaps more than one sort of creature had come to earth in the ship.

Several rooms contained evidence that humans, or wild animals, had used the ship for shelter at different times through the centuries. Twice he saw graffiti written in charcoal, but didn't know the languages.

In a section he mentally identified as engineering he felt a low hum. One largely featureless… object… he hesitated to label anything a machine, with cables leading to or from it vibrated very softly under his hand. Another something had dials and switches never meant for human hands, which still exhibited a couple dim lights. It must have seemed like magic to visitors from another era. He wondered which, if either, of these objects created the interference with other technology.

Dmitri traced a cable from the humming object back into another room. Eight long metal boxes with crystalline semi circular tops lined the walls of the room, four on one side - four on the other. The Russian felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. They reminded him of slightly over-sized coffins. The covers stood open on three of the objects. The crystalline covers were cracked and broken on two other. The covers remained in place on the remaining three, with only darkness visible within. Instrumentation on the edge of one of the three still glowed, while the other two appeared to have stopped working. The Russian moved to the side of the box with the glow and tried to brush some of the dust of centuries off the top. He wondered if others before him had brushed off the dust so that they might also try and peer into the glass topped box. If they had, none had ever set a hand down on exactly the spot where the Russian placed his.

His name, quite unpronounceable by human tongue, meant Dawn over the Lake of Mists. To his friends he was simply Dawn. The stasis tubes did not provide true suspended animation. They functioned by slowing the bodily processes down to an infinitesimal fraction of normality. The body aged, but at a rate of a minute or two a year. Dawn hungered. He had never known such hunger, never dreamed it was even possible to feel such a need for sustenance. As he pushed open the top of his stasis tube, however, he couldn't believe his good fortune, one of the animals from this world stood beside his container.

The Russian screamed as two black tendrils shot out from the darkness in the box, and then Dawn pulled Dmitrii toward him. Dawn allowed the struggling man through his membrane and inside himself. Dawn had never before eaten anything this large, but he had never before experienced such hunger. For almost a minute the Russian beat around madly in the acid which burned and dissolved his skin as it began the digestion process. Dawn lay still, enjoying the sense of satisfaction as nutrients were digested and flowed through his system.

In another part of the ship Gregorii paused. He thought he had heard a scream. He listened for a minute and then, hearing nothing, shrugged and went back to work.

After half an hour Dawn oozed out onto the floor. He had consumed fully three-quarters of the animal and felt full. He considered excreting the remainder, but couldn't be certain where he next meal would be coming from and so simply adjusted his digestive function to a lower level.

He took in the deep sleep room with a sense of amazement. How long had he been in stasis? His was the only container still functioning. Moons, Breeze, River, all had perished when their containers failed. Dawn checked the controls on his own chamber, then rechecked the figures - unable to believe the readings. Almost eighty-thousand years in stasis! For his own amusement he calculated how long the period was in terms of this planet, more than sixty-two thousand of this planet's years. The stasis tubes were never intended for sleep this long. If Dawn had a mouth he would have allowed himself a bitter smile. He understood his hunger.

What Dawn could not understand was why a rescue party had never arrived. Moons had turned on the beacon when they learned they could not leave the planet. At least Moons had tried to turn on the beacon. The three engineers had all perished in their attempt to repair the fusion engine and interstellar drive. The engineers would have known if the beacon worked or not, the survivors did not. Dawn was a biologist and never understood the ship's engines and drive. After Moons attempted to turn on the signal beacon they had entered the sleep chamber, waiting for rescuers who never arrived.

Dawn knew he would perish apart from his people. The rest of his pod had perished centuries before. He gave a brief thought to the war the People had been engaged in with the Smelly Tripods when his ship set out. By now, of course, that was long over, only students of history might remember the conflict. Dawn refused to even consider that the People could have lost the war.

The beacon, of course, had worked. It was the beam Bego and Joss saw extending into the sky. But Dawn's world had ceased to exist before the beam, limited to the speed of light, ever reached the home world of the People.

The People's scanners had picked up the Smelly Tripods' huge ship as it reached the edge of their solar system, and dispatched a fleet of almost one hundred ships against it. When the Armada met the space behemoth the Tripod's craft appeared to explode as more than one thousand tiny ships shot out into space simultaneously through a myriad of hatches. One thousand and eleven scout ships, to be exact. The Tripods knew the People would not understand the significance of the number, the number of death. The tiny ships were far too small for interstellar travel; the People knew that whatever the Tripods planned required that none of the foul creatures would ever return to see their home.

Weapons' arrays on the People's ships went wild, firing on the swift scout craft. None of the tiny ships returned fire, they had no room for tactical weapons on board. The tiny ships were amid the ships of the armada. Seventeen of the People's ships exploded into the vacuum of space after being hit by fire from their own ships. The huge Tripod transport itself was destroyed almost instantly, and of the more the more than one thousand tiny craft all but three were destroyed safely in space.

Each of the small craft had been armed with a total fusion bomb. Three were more than enough. Indeed, two were sufficient since one pilot detonated his bomb prematurely in the upper atmosphere before there was sufficient atmospheric density for the critical mass necessary to sustain the chain reaction. Two of them went low enough to set the People's home planet on fire. From two points in the sky atomic fire ignited and spread, unstoppable, around the planet. Within a day and a half a tiny new star circled the People's sun where their planet had once been.

In space the commanders of the eighty-one remaining ships of the armada met. They accepted the inevitability of death, but voted to launch a last offensive at the Tripod's home world. If they could not destroy it utterly they would still set their civilization back a thousand years.

The admiral of the fleet vetoed the plan. When the commanders demanded an explanation he replied, "Because it might, by accident, preserve the Tripods."

The commanders asked for an explanation.

"Recently we allowed a Tripod to escape from imprisonment. He stole a ship we 'carelessly' left near the detainment center and returned home. He carries an engineered virus. It will lay dormant in his system for four years, spreading to everyone he meets, who will spread it to everyone they meet. In four years it will have spread to every Tripod who lives, and when the virus activates every one of them will die in agony as their internal organs hemorrhage. If we attack their world we might, by accident, kill our tool and those he has met. We must perish here, to insure the destruction of the Tripods."

In perfect formation the eighty-one remaining ships of the People flew into the nuclear fire which had been once been their home.

On a world circling a nearby star the Tripods celebrated their victory. Tl'ptrh, the only Tripod to ever escape from the People toured his world, celebrated as a hero and giving speeches. For the next four years he enjoyed being feted and meeting people in every major city. When the dormant virus became active the Tripods perished almost as quickly as the People, and in even greater agony. They never had time to even learn the source of the plague which struck them down.

* * *

"You don't need to dig it deep enough for three bodies," Bashful told Misha. "Besides, we don't know if there's enough sand here to go down for one. You can bury your buddy under a pile of rocks if you have to."

After the grave was filled in and Joseph said some Orthodox prayers the Russians were bound again and led back to the US camp. Doc stayed with Happy as the other Americans discussed the fate of their prisoners.

Joseph tried a weak bluff, "Don't know what the problem is, we're US - just like you."

"Really," Donner growled. "What makes you think we're US?"

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?"

What intelligence service you with?"

"Can't say, once we're back our people will call your people," Joseph promised.

"You're from the states?" Grumpy asked, "Where?"

The Russian tried to remember his geography, and attempted to pick a state that he doubted the Americans were familiar with, "Nebraska."

"What's their college team?"

"Football?"

"I mean, what's the nickname of their college."

"Uh, the Pistons?"

"If we had a tree," Sleepy said, "and if we had a rope, I'd vote for stringing him up right now."

"Don't know where you're from," Donner told them, "but you should be even less anxious to fall into the Egyptian hands than we are. You'll stay here with us for now. When we pull out we'll leave you water and maps. Of course, if you are Russian, I hear the US is always looking to hire new Russian specialists. I can give you a name you might want to check out in Cairo. My guess is that you can't or won't tell us anything about your three missing friends."

"Two," Misha said, figuring out limited cooperation was in his best interest, "one of our party was killed."

"Wish to hell we knew where your two friends are now…" Sleepy muttered. "Can Bashful and I go back and do some looking 'round?" he asked Donner.

"Not with the Egyptians moving in. There's too much cover for the Russians to use against you. We're taking it easy today."

* * *

"What do you see," Joss demanded as Jim scanned the camp below them through his binoculars.

"Seem to be two prisoners… I saw pictures of Atwood-Long, neither looks like him--"

"He's been a prisoner for a week!"

"Then being held hostage is good for him. Of course he could be in one of the… Holy… That looks like Shego!"

"Give me the binoculars!"

"No!"

"Give 'em to me, or I'll take them away from you and make you cry like a girl."

Jim handed her the binoculars. Joss focused and stared at the camp. After a minute she silently handed them back to Jim."

"Well?" her cousin asked her.

"Heck if I know," she admitted. "It's her. We need to talk with the others."

* * *

Dawn looked around the ruins of the once great vessel and contemplated his fate. He was alone, stranded on an alien planet, light years from a home to which he could never return. The planet, although cold, could support life. He needed to eat more than he preferred to keep his metabolism at a proper level in the chilly air, but the planet had food available. Was there any point to his continued existence? Should he just crawl back into the stasis chamber and hope a future expedition might find him before the mechanism failed and he died like his comrades?

He reminded himself he was a scientist. He lived for the acquisition of knowledge. He and River had engaged in the study of the planet's animal life before they went into stasis. He had the rare opportunity to see if any development had taken place during his long sleep. Even if he could pass the information on to no one else the search for knowledge gave him purpose and direction.

But first, he needed to know what tools were available to him. Clearly the gravity generator worked, since his chamber had continued to function. He would need to see if the heaters, turned off when they entered stasis, still worked - he found the ship uncomfortably cool. He set out to explore what remained in the shell of the ship.

Gregorii glanced at his watch, and cursed Dmitri for being late. He was supposed to have returned twenty minutes ago. The Russian thought about taking his bag, now filled with a variety of small objects, and heading back to get the others and bring them here to load up. He considered the group commander might need help, but dismissed it. More likely Dmitri had found something of particular interest and was attempting to haul it out by himself. If Gregorii went for the others they would return to find Dmitri sitting triumphantly on the richest discovery.

Gregorii lit one of his candles and walked into the darkness, "+Dmitri! Dmitri, you son of bitch! Where are you? We need to take what we can and get the hell out of here before the Egyptians arrive!+" Faint echoes whispered back, the only response to his call. The Russian had no idea how large the ship might be, or the sound insulating qualities of the materials in its construction. He continued walking in the direction Dmitri had taken.

The dark silence began to prey on him. He was not afraid but the quiet, as profound as a tomb, in the ancient ruin of some non-human artifact disturbed him. The Russian drew his pistol. Simply holding it as he navigated through the dark gave him a sense of comfort. _"Where is that fool Dmitri?"_

Had Gregorii been a timid man he would have run from the ship into the daylight. But shadows held no terrors. And shadows from the flickering candle flame were his companions as he worked his way deeper into the vessel. Disturbances in the dust on the floor told him Dmitri had gone this way. "+Dmitri, where are you?+" he bellowed again.

Gregorii paused, a shadow seemed to have moved. He realized, of course, that it was merely the flicker of the candle flame which made the shadow appear to move, but he swung the hand holding the candle in the direction of the apparent motion to determine what cast the shadow.

That was when the shadow fell upon him. Gregorii opened fire. Three shots tore through the blackness before it enveloped him, stripping his weapon from him and immobilizing him. He struggled against the leather-like creature, but could do nothing as it began to carry him towards a room he had passed through before this one.

Three small missiles tore through his membrane. They caused slight discomfort and Dawn lost of a small amount of cytoplasm before his membrane resealed itself. The weapon appeared considerable more sophisticated than the sticks and stones the animals had used thousands of years earlier. Dawn wished River could be there. Of course, his colleague would have said, "I told you so." River had insisted the animals were capable of some sort of thought process. River had been a damn fool and a sentimentalist who would have kept the creatures as pets instead of studying them and consuming them.

The clamps on the examining table were still sound, and Gregorii went onto the table as many others had before him. Once he had fastened the creature down Dawn pulled out a set of tools. Most of the mechanisms no longer worked, but the knives were still there. The material, impervious to oxidation, held the same razor edge.

The animal's hide appeared different, but Dawn soon realized it was artificial and cut it away. Inside the artificial skin the animal was much as it had been. Dawn reflected that the artificial hide proved River right. It also might explain why he suffered indigestion from the meal still inside him. Perhaps he should excrete what was left, but it could wait until he finished the examination.

The animals had come in two forms, those with an appendage and those without. River initially thought they were different species, but Dawn had realized the differences functioned as part of the animals' reproductive system. Dawn would have made his name among the scientists of his people if he had made it back to the planet with the story of his discovery. Dawn wondered if the higher level of technology meant a larger brain in the creature. But starting on the brain would kill the creature before Dawn had a chance to examine other bodily functions in action and see if them remained the same.

This animal had seemed weaker in its struggles than its ancestors of a thousand generations earlier. Dawn would begin with an examination of the muscle tissue.

Gregorii screamed as the knife went into his leg. Through experience Dawn avoided arteries. With luck the examination might continue for an hour before the creature died from a lack of blood of the shock of Dawn examining its internal organs.

The screams continued a very long time, but were heard by no one outside the ship.

Dawn felt ill as he finished the examination. He should have probably rested after his long period in stasis instead of moving about the ship and conducting an examination. His membrane seemed thin and stiff somehow. He examined the spots where the pieces of metal had torn through him. The membrane there seemed brittle and a tiny amount of cytoplasm continued to seep through imperfect seals. Beyond the problems with his membrane however, was the pain inside.

Dawn's digestive process had eaten a small opening in one of the butane lighters Dmitri had carried and the petrochemical had started to leak out. Before Dawn could gain control over the pain and eliminate what remained of the earlier meal the sides of a second lighter collapsed, flooding the deadly poison into Dawn's system. He collapsed on the floor, knowing a hole had been eaten in his membrane and unable to maintain its integrity.

Thus perished Dawn. Last of the People, the eleventh race in the galaxy to achieve interstellar flight.

* * *

The Egyptians thought they heard three shots as the soldiers, spread out in a skirmish line, moved towards the eastern entrance to the valley. They had no idea how many men were ahead of them, or how they were armed. They moved slowly, each man staring hard at what lay ahead and wondering when they would be fired on. As they drew closer the tension increased. They had to bunch closer together as they reached the pass - a good time for an attacker to open fire on them. Instead they entered the valley without being challenged and paused, wondering what to do.

A lieutenant ordered Sergeant Khalid to take a dozen men and search the rocks along the foot of the cliff on the north. The rocky area on the south had too many places to hide for a thorough search to be possible, but he took the remaining troops for a cursory exploration of the southern area - except for one man dispatched back to the camp with the report they had arrived safely and requesting the expedition be moved forward.

* * *

Kim led a group of Egyptians to the area where she had seen the camels leaving the valley the day before. They were able to follow the trail for more than a mile to the east, then waited for the men carrying supplies to arrive. Col. Abbas had been quite clear this was an internal Egyptian matter and he did not want Global Justice agents accompanying his men on their actual mission. The men on the camels came down peacefully when the soldiers stepped out of hiding. Kim understood none of the conversation that took place. The supplies were unloaded and two of the men bringing them remained behind as five soldiers and one of the deliverymen headed back to the village they had started from.

* * *

When the four Air Force Special Ops men arrived with supplies Donner told them, "Two of you will be staying. We've got a wounded man who needs to be taken out."

"No!" Doc spoke up. "Two extras can come in tomorrow. We need Happy out as fast as possible. Three of us? Even with the easy route we found it will take too long. Going to take all five of us, working hard, to get him out today."

"We've got prisoners," Donner complained.

"And six people left to watch them. You'll do fine until you get our replacements."

Donner grumbled, but knew the short man was right.

Happy lay on the litter he would be carried out on. Despite the pain he managed to wave goodbye to the others. He gestured to Shego to come closer, however, and when she leaned over to hear what he wanted to tell her, his hand came up and he squeezed her breast.

Startled, Shego jerked back.

Doc laughed, "Okay, he's in better shape than a thought."

"Dying man's last request," Happy managed to say.

Shego smiled, "Dying man? Hell. You're going to recover. And when you do I'm going to look you up and beat the crap out of you."

"Still worth it," he managed to say, then closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.

Sneezy addressed Donner, "Uh, Dopey? Grumpy and I'd like to help carry for about the first four miles or so. Let the others keep their strength for the last of the hike. The four of you can watch the prisoners. We're not going to try and find the whatever today… Hell, why don't we all just leave? We've lost."

"You can help evacuate Happy," Donner conceded, "But we're staying - this isn't over yet."

* * *

The Egyptians found blood on the ground at the remains of the Russian camp, but no bodies. If there had been a trail that could have been followed away from it the troops who had been searching the area obliterated it.

Dr. Kemal touched off a small international incident in camp that evening when he agreed with Ron that Israeli falafel was better than Egyptian taamiya. Ron, being Jewish, could be forgiven for his prejudice. For a Turk to agree with the Jew represented an unpardonable sin. Mustapha partially redeemed himself, however, by declaring that Palestinians made best falafel in Israel and escaped the incident with no harm other than being served coffee with salt instead of sugar. He considered complimenting the cooks and saying it was the best coffee they had made, but then reflected that he'd never be able to trust a thing they put on his plate from that moment forward and he remained silent.

* * *

In a small village near edge of the desert a thug ran back to tell Mikhal that he saw five Egyptian soldiers headed their way. Mikhal started to curse, stopped, and ordered the two enforcers to head for the Land Rover. They would spend the night in Asyut and work out their strategy for tomorrow from there. Mikhal finished his cursing on the bumpy ride to the city.

* * *

Some in the Egyptian - Global Justice camp had trouble sleeping that night. Tomorrow they would see what they had gone into the desert to find.

* * *

In a tent on the northern side of the ridge Joss stared at the darkness of the tent above her. Admitting she had said yes to Wade opened memories she wanted to repress. They had planned that evening together. It had been her idea as much as his. When she panicked he should have stopped. But was she blaming everything on him so she could deny her own role in that night? She desperately wanted to talk with Bego or Kim.


	10. Days 10 to 16: Eureka II

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**Days 10 - 16: Eureka II**

**Day 10**

Still uncertain in regard to number and location of the 'kidnappers' and 'Venezuelans' the sentries at the Egyptian-Global Justice camp were extra vigilant as morning prayers were said by the faithful and breakfast was had by all.

Leslie Atwood-Long proved surprisingly difficult and muttered something about ungrateful colonials on being informed that discovery of an object gave him no claims over it.

"If Egypt rules it part of our cultural heritage all you have is the fame associated with its discovery," Col. Abbas told him.

"And publication rights for your book, of course," Kim reminded him.

"It isn't part of Egypt's cultural heritage!" Leslie insisted. "It isn't human technology."

"If your assertion can be borne out by analysis on the site," Will waded in, "the United Nations will seek to have it recognized as transcending national sovereignty."

Col. Abbas smiled, "It has been a little more than a week, do you think my government and the UN will have really reached any conclusion?"

"Not if the bureaucrats working on it are anything like Will here," Kim answered.

The Col. laughed. Leslie, knowing they would discover it shortly whether he helped or not began to cooperate to maintain a voice in the events.

In the late morning a phalanx of soldiers and Global Justice agents surrounded Atwood-Long as he led them through the jumble of boulders at the south edge of the valley.

* * *

After breakfast Jim and Joss brought Wade to their spot on the top of the ridge where they could spy on the camp at the east entrance to the valley. After a little while they moved back from the edge. They were far enough away those below they didn't need to worry about being overheard, but still found themselves whispering.

"Well?" Jim demanded.

"You're right, it's Shego. I saw David Donner down there also," Wade answered.

"Isn't he that guy who can order Shego around and got a couple jobs for us?" Joss asked.

"Yeah, that's him. He's in sort of a liaison office for the intelligence agencies, not sure whether you call him CIA, NSA, DIA, FBI, or who knows what."

Joss seemed worried, "So, they're on our side?"

Jim snorted, "I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"Well, yeah, theoretically they're looking out for US interests," Wade answered.

"What about them two prisoners?"

"Heck if I know," Wade admitted. "Maybe they captured two people from the Global Justice mission, or maybe they're from the group that grabbed Atwood-Long."

"But no sign of the Brit, right?" Jim asked.

"No, none at all. Why don't we go back and see if Tim has found anything out by watching the Egyptians?"

Joss accepted the suggestion, "Okay, but I don't want to hear no talk about telling the Egyptians about the US guys."

* * *

Anxiety dominated the US camp. Joseph and Misha had started to worry less about summary execution and wondered how to cooperate enough to keep in their captors' good graces without doing anything to betray their homeland.

Donner worried about what the missing Russians might have found, or planned. He knew that today everyone would mostly be focused on what had happened to Happy. Once the news arrived about the Ranger's health - good or bad. There would be more suggestions like the one Sneezy said yesterday - questions about whether they should just go home. Donner hoped to keep them in line without revealing details about any of the possible contingency plans.

* * *

"There it is," Atwood-Long proclaimed.

"Doesn't look like much," Col. Abbas remarked.

"Mostly covered with sand and rocks, I believe it extends to there." Leslie pointed to a spot a considerable distance away.

Will let out a low whistle.

"If that's true," Kim remarked, "you can see why people thought it was big enough to be a city."

"Or the gates of Hell," Leslie told them. "There are a few devices still functioning in there. Would have seemed like magic to anyone in the past."

Abbas turned to his aides, "Begin organizing shifts to clear away debris, I want to know what's under there."

"NO!" the archaeologists screamed, "We have to start by taking photographs of everything, exactly where it is, in place!"

"You're not going to find anything _in situ_ in there," Atwood-Long told them scornfully, "animals and humans have disturbed everything."

"We must make an exact photographic record!" the archaeologists insisted.

"Wonderful thought, Chaps," Leslie remarked, "Do you have cameras that take pictures in the dark?"

The archaeologists looked at each other. One said something to the other in complete disgust. Kim didn't ask for a translation. She strongly suspected it was a potent Arabic curse.

An Egyptian lieutenant asked for volunteers who considered themselves decent sketch artists. Ten soldiers and nine Global Justice agents volunteered. They were given pencils and paper along with candles and placed under the direction of the archaeologists who led them into the ship and started making assignments about who should draw what. Those who had appeared less promising were left in the first areas where every object had presumably been more disturbed.

Kim and Will were among the few still going deeper into the ship when they found the room of horrors.

The remains of a man, strapped to a dissecting table were the first thing they noticed. Only later were the acid eaten remains of a second man discovered in some sort of viscous goo on the floor. Before the discovery of the late Dmitri Will ordered one of the Egyptians out to bring in Atwood-Long and Col. Abbas.

"Is there enough to identify him as one of your kidnappers?" Will asked.

Leslie, who had turned an unhealthy shade of green, gulped, "No," and left hurriedly.

Abbas shook his head in disbelief as he considered the two corpses. "I do not know how anyone could inflict such torture on other creatures… But sentries will be given orders to shoot anyone not responding to a challenge. I will assign Sergeant Khalid another unpleasant duty."

Kim found her own stomach queasy and she joined Will in searching for evidence before the burial squad arrived. "Kidnappers or Venezuelans do this?" she asked.

"Venezuelans is my guess." Will looked at the body on the dissecting table and shuddered, "I can see why Atwood-Long would be incapable of definitive recognition."

"Will! Come look at this."

The Global Justice co-leader let out a low whistle as he looked at the trail Kim noticed through the dust on the floor. "Something big being dragged across the floor?"

Kim knelt down and looked closer, wishing she had better light, "I don't know… It looks like something… I don't know what could have made marks like that."

They went back and looked at the body on the floor. Somehow the remains now looked less acid-eaten and simply more half-digested.

"I suggest we only allow exploration of the interior by pairs of soldiers or field agents," Will suggested.

"Make it in threes," Kim answered.

Will did not accuse her of being overly cautious.

* * *

"There was a guy down there who looked a lot like a picture of Atwood-Long I saw," Tim told the others. "What's happening down at the other end?"

"Some bunch from the US--" Jim began

"And Ms Shego's with them," Joss added.

Jim finished, "Anyway, they may the ones who freed the Brit. They've got a couple prisoners with them."

"Where does that leave us?" Tim wanted to know. "I can't see us turning in Shego."

"Not sure where it leaves us," Wade admitted. "Doc and I both had some back-up plans before we started… Heck, this could still be some sort of big hoax and we'd just look foolish if we go waltzing in to camp down there offering to help. I say we hang around a few more days on the sly and see what happens."

"The interference with electro-magnetic devices?" Jim asked.

"Could be natural. Why not?"

Their discussion continued until the growing excitement in the Egyptian camp below made the possibility of a hoax seem too remote to defend.

* * *

"What's up with Happy?" Sleepy demanded as four men arrived at the US camp with supplies.

"Happy?" a man asked.

"The wounded man who went back yesterday."

"Should be fine. Ship surgeon said he'd never seen better field treatment. He'll probably be on board ship a day or two then med-evaced to Germany."

"Which two of you are staying?" Donner asked.

"Us," one of them said, pointing to himself and another man. "We heard someone up here is freaking paranoid about names."

"That would be me," Donner said dryly.

_"No wonder he called you Dopey."_

"I hope one of you is a halfway decent medic."

"I'm okay, not sure I could do what Steve--"

"Call him Doc!"

"Not sure I could do what he did."

"Well then, let's not have any more wounded men," Donner suggested. "Any other messages?"

"Well… This made no sense. He said, 'Find Dopey. Tell him Sleazy and Slappy.' I've got no idea what that means."

Bashful laughed, "It means welcome to the seven dwarves."

The two new Special Ops men looked at one another and wondered what was happening.

* * *

**Day 11**

The day after the discovery Abbas kept most of the troops to work moving rocks. Despite the continued protests of the archaeologists most of the soldiers cleared debris off the ship to obtain a better idea of its size. A smaller squad received the assignment of opening up a wider passage between the camp in the valley and the actual location of the space ship.

Atwood-Long, the geologist, suggested that a southern ridge had once defined the south edge of the valley as the northern ridge still defined the north. The ship had been in the larger valley until the destruction of the southern ridge buried it.

The process of moving rocks to clear the ship and a path led to the destruction of many happy homes for poisonous snakes and scorpions, many of whom gave notice of their displeasure. Dr. Farouk set up a first aid station near the ship and treated a steady trickle of bites and stings.

In the ship itself archaeologists worked feverishly with anyone who possessed drawing ability to record the positions of everything they could see. Colonel Abbas had made it clear that the next day he planned to order men to begin the process of crating up everything that could be moved for shipment to Cairo until final plans were put in place.

The more the archaeologists saw of the interior the more they regarded their labors as an exercise in futility, but sometimes an archaeologist has to do what an archaeologist has to do.

* * *

"Damn," Donner complained, "We're in no position to see anything from where we are now. What are the chances of climbing up on this ridge and moving west until we can look in from the top?"

Grumpy eyed the cliff. "Not very good right here, too steep. If we looked we might be able to find a spot where we could get up."

"We'd be closer if we could get into those rocks along the south edge of the valley," Sleepy suggested.

"How do we manage that, with the Egyptian army right there?" Sneezy demanded.

"They're pretty much just at the west end. We could go in at night, find a little hide-away in those rocks on the south side and--"

"Supplies?" Donner demanded, seeming to warm to the idea.

"Our pack mules could leave stuff here during the day, then we slip out at night and haul it in."

"More chance of being spotted," Shego pointed out.

"Yeah, but gives us a lot better access to information," Donner mused. "Sleepy, Bashful, you two get some rest today. I want you to go in tonight and see if you can find a good place for us."

* * *

Wearing only his underwear and sunglasses Tim lay out on top of the ridge working on his tan while Joss and Jim monitored the Egyptian camp below. Wade and Drakken remained below on their side of the cliff, talking Lipsky and Load business.

"I can't make up my mind," Jim mused as he watched the Egyptian camp through his binoculars. "Part of me wants to hang around here and see history happening first hand. Part of me wants to go down and join them. And part of me wants to just go home and stay in a swimming pool for a week. I don't know whether I want us to stay or go."

Joss closed her eyes in thought, " I want to go home… Real home, Montana… I feel like I need some time for myself."

They were far enough away from the Egyptian camp, which produced so much of its own noise, that they didn't need to speak softly and Tim threw in his two cents, "If we head back now Mom and Dad will want us back in classes at the U."

Jim grinned, "Sorry, Joss, but Tim makes a real persuasive argument for staying."

* * *

Late in the afternoon Will and Kim approached Ron, "Would you be so kind as accompany Ms Possible and myself to the alien craft?" Will requested.

Ron shrugged, "Sure," and joined them.

As they headed bask to the vessel Kim asked him, "Did you ever wonder why Betty Director really wanted you to come along with this expedition?"

"I sort of figured it was my good looks and boyish charm."

"Seriously Ron!"

"Sorry, KP. Because you're used to me having your back and this was so big she wanted you to be more comfortable?"

"She's counting on the Ron factor to help with this."

"Ah, man," Ron protested. "I thought they disproved that."

"That had been my opinion," Will interjected, "But Dr. Director felt you possessed unique abilities which might increase the odds for a beneficial outcome."

"What did he just say?" Ron asked Kim.

She answered as they lit candles and went into the ship. "He says he doesn't think you can do it. I think you can--"

"Do what?"

"We'll explain in a minute." Kim hesitated. "Ron… I have faith in you. And a huge bet riding on you… I really need you to pull this off."

Ron groaned, "You're betting with Mr. Moneybags?"

"Not money, Ron. Loser has to eat a whole bowl of molokhia," Kim explained as they worked their way back in the spacecraft.

Ron noticed a curious lack of any Egyptians or Global Justice agents in the vessel. "Hey, the stuff isn't that bad! I'm not a big fan - but it's okay. LaTisha likes it!"

"Oh, there's a great recommendation," Kim shot back. "The stuff is disgusting! I should know - I ate some."

"It's not that-- Hey, where are we?"

"We can not assign precise functions to these machines," Will explained. "While we don't have any world class engineers among the personnel we had a group perform a cursory examination of the infrastructure and--"

"What's he saying, KP?" Ron whispered loudly enough for Will to hear.

Kim wished they had Wade, or even Drakken, there with them. "Best guess is that some sort of atomic engine and propulsion unit were in the rear. They were probably broken to begin with, and after centuries there's really nothing left there. So there has to be some sort of auxiliary power supply. There seem to be some sort of cables running from this--" Kim pointed to the device from which Dmitri had detected a sort of vibration, "to anything else that seems to be working."

"And what am I supposed to do?"

"Can you turn it off, Ron?" Kim asked.

"This is like, totally alien, and I mean really! And I'm supposed to turn it off?"

"We suspect it is somehow responsible for the field which interferes with our technology," Will explained.

"Hello, what part of alien are you missing?"

"Ron, please, we can't do any analysis of anything while the interference field is on. Nothing we make much more sophisticated than a hammer works around it. We need it turned off to start working on it. You have more experience with shutting off doomsday devices than anyone else in the world!"

"It isn't a doomsday device, KP!"

"You can do it, Ron!"

"I told you he couldn't do it," Will said scornfully.

"It's not a matter of experience," Ron insisted, looking around. "Aliens. Cue the scary music. They don't do things like we do." He walked over to a section of wall and punched it. "You think that is going to do anything? How should I even know what a control panel looks like?"

Kim sighed, "I'm sorry Ron. It was unfair of me to ask."

"It's okay, KP. But where do we go from here?"

"I don't know… Will?"

"Forgive me for asking, but is it getting warmer in here?" Will asked, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping his forehead.

"Feels like it," Kim agreed, "but the hottest part of the day is over… Ron, you just turned on the ship's heater."

"I what?"

"They must have needed it for the cold of space," Will said, starting to sound excited. "They wouldn't need it here in the desert. Agent Stoppable, you found the control panel!"

"This section of wall?" Ron peered closer.

Kim offered encouragement, "Try something else."

Ron pressed hard on another section of wall, and the machine with a couple lights suddenly blinked off. For the first time in more than sixty thousand years the beacon went out.

"Did that solve the problem?" Kim asked Will.

"Hold on." He pulled a small multi-tool from his pocket and pressed a button that should turn on an LED. "Nothing," he told her.

"Try again, Ron… Ron?"

"Yeah, KP?"

"Uh, try not to trigger any self-destruct switch… Or see if you can turn off the heater…"

"I'll doing the best I can, KP."

Prodding another section produced the grinding noise of something not working. And then the featureless piece of equipment emitting the low hum died on Ron's next attempt.

"Will?"

He shone the red LED in Kim's face. "Yes!"

Kim gave Ron a hug and kiss, "Will has to eat a bowl of snot!" she laughed.

"It's not that bad," Ron protested as they headed back to camp.

* * *

A little gambling went on in the American camp also. With not much else happening Grumpy dug out a deck of cards and he and Sneezy cut up anything on hand to fashion poker chips. Everyone put their evening dessert ration into a common pool and the 'chips' were distributed. They played until someone had won all the chips, and that person got one dessert. Then the 'chips' were redistributed for another round and another dessert ration. They even invited the Russians to sit in, and found them as awful as expected.

At the end of the afternoon Shego had most of the desserts.

"Is there anything you don't do," Sleepy asked in disgust as she took the last bar.

Shego hesitated for a minute, "Nope, to steal a line - anything's possible for me. Except maybe eating this much. Got to watch my girlish figure--"

"I'll help," Bashful offered.

"I'll give a bar to any of you losers who'll give me an IOU for dessert tomorrow in case the gods curse me for hubris and I play as lousy as you did today."

With Doc gone no one knew what hubris meant, but they took her up on the offer.

* * *

**Day 12**

When Bego arrived at the edge at the rendezvous point with Ibrahim and uncle Mehemet she found the field off. She considered piloting the hovercraft in to try and find them, but without knowing why the field was off she decided to remain her customary distance away. She did, however, send a few electronic devices in with the food and water.

* * *

Interior areas closest to the openings in the hull had been sketched, and archaeologists worked to label each item with a description of where it had been found before they were packed into crates for analysis elsewhere.

Portions of the craft were now visible, and the path between the ship and the camp had become easier to use. Worries about whoever had freed Atwood-Long continued, although days of quiet had lulled a majority of those there into the hope they had fled the area. While more sentries were posted around the camp no effort was made to search all the possible hiding places, the Col. explained it would take too long to be practical.

* * *

Bashful and Sleepy had gone into the valley during the night and found a good spot just outside the perimeter of the Egyptian camp. With shade, sufficient room for a small group and a couple spots which offered a view of the Egyptians they decided to spend the day. They had brought in what they needed for a day and took turns watching and resting. Bored in the afternoon Sleepy worked his way back through a narrow opening and discovered a spot where he could see part of the spacecraft.

In the US camp Donner spent the day wondering what had happened to the Marines. Had they found a good location? Were they holed up in a bad location and waiting for night to escape? He wanted desperately to know what was going on.

Wrappers from last night's meals had been cut into additional poker 'chips' and the contest for the evening's desserts began early and the rounds went longer.

When supplies arrived the men carrying them in were warned that they might need to simply leave the supplies on future days if they US base camp relocated into the valley.

* * *

As Bego waited on for the return of Ibrahim the radio in the hovercraft crackled into life, "Little Blue, You there?"

"Cousin T?"

"Got it, cuz. Someone here wants to say hi."

"Bego?"

"Joss!"

They both squeed. Joss began telling Bego about the trip in, while Bego gave Joss news from home.

"Dad. is. not. happy. we. didn't. tell. him. before. we. left."

Joss laughed. Eventually someone else would take the radio away with a request for something Bego needed to send them tomorrow, but for the next hour and a half she stayed on the radio with her metal sister.

* * *

"Where's LaTisha?" Kim asked looking around the Global Justice agents who tended to eat together in the evening. Molokhia hadn't been on the menu last night, but Abdul had been happy to prepare a pot this evening. Kim thought the black woman might enjoy the show of Will eating it.

Ron swallowed a mouthful of food, "I think she's fraternizing with the allies."

"You don't fraternize with allies, you do it with people you aren't supposed to be in bed… Where is Dr. Farouk?"

"Well, according to you, he's in his tent not fraternizing with LaTisha. Unless they shouldn't be there. In which case, they are."

It took Kim a minute to translate the meaning from Ronish to English.

"Great," Kim muttered. "Global Justice is trying to keep a high moral profile here and--"

"Kim?"

"What?"

"You're sounding like Will."

"Sorry. It's just that some people need to keep their pants on."

Ron coughed, "Excuse me."

"Sorry, with you it just comes natural. I'd hate to think it just came natural for her too."

"Oh, I don't think so," Ron assured her, "she's thanking him for saving her life."

"He saved her life? How?"

"Well, he didn't actually save her life. But she figured she could get more mileage if he thought she thought that he thought--"

Kim put a hand over Ron's mouth. "Can you explain in English?"

He nodded yes and Kim removed her hand. "You know how the sting of the yellow scorpion can be really bad?" Ron continued.

"Yes, was LaTisha stung by one?"

"No," Ron answered. "Brown scorpion - some pain but not really dangerous."

"So, a brown scorpion stung her, but she told him it was a yellow scorpion so she could thank him for saving her life?"

"Exactly," Ron said. "And those suckers aren't easy to find. I think she looked for one for more than an hour."

* * *

**Day 13**

Ibrahim and his uncle met Bego at the accustomed place for their journey into the desert.

"I. do. not. need. you. to. take. supplies. in. today," she told them.

"But--" the boy started to protest.

"I. can. travel. into. the. area. myself. now. I. will. pay. you. and. your. uncle. for. today, if. you. fly. in. with. me. to. show. me. where. they. are. And. I. will. give. you. and. your. uncle. two. days'. wages. to. be. ready. if. I. need. you. again. They. might. turn. whatever. it. was. back. on."

Uncle Mehemet feared for the boy's safety and the two men argued for a long time in Arabic before Ibrahim was allowed to go.

The hovercraft engines were poorly muffled. At the Lipsky and Load camp Tim and Joss looked up, excited.

"Hear that?" Tim asked.

"Sure 'nuff, Joss grinned.

By now even Drakken and Wade heard the sound. Joss noticed the 'wrinkle' in the air caused by the light bending technology and ran out the meet them.

"Sis!" Joss yelled and grabbed on tightly to the blue girl, "I'm glad to see you! What in the heck you doin' here? This is too dangerous; you got to go back! Did you called mom an' dad last night? How is everybody? Why did you come out here? That thing could go on any minute and--"

"Glad. to. see. you. too. I. thought. you. might. want. some. of. the. electronic. equipment. you. had. to. leave. earlier--"

"Cool," Tim interrupted, "What did you bring?"

Jim and Wade didn't wait for an answer, but headed for the hovercraft to find out for themselves.

Tim listened to Joss and Bego for a few minutes, wondering how it was physically possible for them to both be talking and listening at the same time.

* * *

The US camp moved in to the position the Marines found. At night they brought in the supplies they needed which had been left outside the valley. The intelligence agent put the Special Ops men on rotation for keeping the Egyptian camp and space ship, or at least what they could see of it, under constant surveillance. It seemed a little pointless to the men, but provided them with something to do beside playing cards and cut down on the grousing over a pointless mission.

Donner himself kept close watch on Joseph and Misha. He got a lot of points in DC if either defected. He got his head handed to him on a platter if they messed up what he had planned. The two realized they were best off where they were and received the run of the camp during the day. They still slept bound. Donner was taking no chances on their trying to steal weapons during the night.

* * *

Even though engines and electronic gadgets now worked there was no way to bring trucks within the last few miles of the site. Human and animal muscle still moved whatever needed to be brought in for the last portion of the journey. Nevertheless, a couple small generators and fuel allowed some refrigeration, and Global Justice set up a communication link for agents.

With a single line available, and everyone wanting to make calls Will and Kim enforced rationing, each agent limited to two calls and ten minutes.

Kim's call went to the house, to talk with Shego and find out what was happening with the twins.

She could not immediately place the voice of the man who answered, "Hello?" It seemed familiar but out of place.

_"Who is this, and why is he at my house? Did I call the wrong number?"_ Kim wondered. "This is Kim Possible, I--"

"Kim! Great to hear from you! Georgie asked her mother--"

Kim identified the voice now, it belonged to Shego's father.

"--to come and watch the girls. And I decided to come along too. You don't bring them to see us nearly enough."

"I'm sorry, awfully busy. Is Shego there?"

"No. According to your mom she left about the same time you did."

_"Great, why didn't she tell me?"_ "Can I talk with the girls?"

"Let me find where they are, I--"

In the background Kim could hear Susan ask her husband, "Is that Kim?" Kim imagined George nodding his head yes, because Susan said, "I'll get the twins. They'll want to talk to Mommy."

Tears came to Kim's eyes as little voices told her how much they loved and missed her. She resolved to spend a whole day hugging and kissing and playing with the girls as soon as she got home.

Kim talked briefly with Susan also. Susan knew nothing about what had happened to Shego. Her big news consisted of the fact Ed had proposed to Connie, who had accepted, and Shego's brother was hoping to use his nieces as flower girls at the wedding.

The redhead smiled. She guessed Susan had the kids whipped into a frenzy of excitement over frilly little dresses and a wedding, which was probably many months away - an eternity to three year olds.

When the twins got off the phone Kim glanced at her watch. She didn't have enough time to make a second call, and asked George to call her parents and tell them she was fine. She expressed a note of worry about Shego's absence, and George tried to reassure her.

"Kim, she isn't going to leave you and the girls. You know she just got called away on business and will be home as --"

Annoyed, Kim looked over. Will pointed to his watch, and Kim surrendered the phone to another agent.

When Ron got his turn he placed a fast call to his family that used less than two minutes. He let his mom and dad know he was fine, and said hello to Hana. She asked if he would bring her home a mummy for show and tell.

His second call went to California. Bonnie was cross at being disturbed during her workout, then delighted to hear Ron's voice, then disappointed to learn his time was rationed. The two made sweet small talk to each other until Ron mentioned in passing that he was sharing a tent with Kim on the mission. Bonnie went ballistic over the news, before she reached the height of her anger, however, Will cut the connection and told Ron it was another agent's turn. Ron wasn't sure if he should be grateful to Will for cutting the call short or worried that Bonnie might think he hung up on her.

Will took last place in the calling rotation. He hoped he might be able to extend his call to Monique a little longer if there was no one else waiting. He remained uncharacteristically quiet during his call. He let her tell him about what was going on at home, and hung on her every word with a look of love-sick puppy devotion. Watching his expression Kim almost had a sense of what her friend could see in the glacial Mr. Du. Monique always said a real human heart beat under his formal exterior and realized it was true. But at exactly ten minutes she cut off his call as he had cut off hers.

Shego's absence from Middleton raised suspicions in Kim's mind, and she sought out the Englishman. "Could you describe the pale woman you said was there with the people who freed you?"

Leslie had not seen her well enough to give a good description. There were probably at least five million women in the world who fit the description he offered, but one of them was Shego.

* * *

**Day 14**

The Egyptians suspended most work on the site when Dr Zahi Hawass of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities came out for a day with a film crew from National Geographic. They spent the day filming, and the various cameramen probably took thirty hours of video in total.

The archaeologists who had actually come out were told to stay off-camera. Kim stood by one of the them and listened as Dr. Hawass gave a lecture to the National Geographic audience. After the camera had been turned off the crew moved off for pictures inside the spaceship Kim turned to the archaeologist. "So, just how good an archaeologist is Dr Hawass?"

"You need to understand that archeology is a complex disciple. Besides the variety of skills necessary for field archeology it requires fund-raising, publicity, and political connections."

"And Dr. Hawass?"

"He is the greatest fund-raiser, publicists, and political voice for archeology in the world."

"And as a field archaeologist?"

The archaeologist hesitated, "He's my boss."

Kim took that as her answer.

Before leaving camp Dr. Hawass explained to the expedition that Egypt had signed an exclusive contract with National Geographic for all photographs used for educational and publicity purposes. If any of them had personal pictures they were to remain personal pictures. The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities would sue the ass off anyone who published any pictures anywhere - including web logs.

* * *

Bego insisted on staying with the team that night. Joss couldn't decide whether to be delighted at having her sister there to talk all night, or scared that something might turn the field back on and possibly kill her. Tim had set up monitoring equipment and knew that Ron had turned the device off, but Joss worried that as the device was crated and prepared for removal it might somehow accidentally switched on.

Bego convinced her they would not be attempting to move it at night, and promised to fly into Cairo early tomorrow for anything they needed.

Conversation at the camp was kept low, even though there was no danger of being overheard.

"Have you decided where you're going to college yet?" Tim asked the girls.

"Didn't you hear I got in to MIT?" Joss replied. "I thought everybody in town heard the whoop I let out when I got their letter."

"I. have. been. wait. listed. at. Harvard. Boston. College, and. Tufts. both. accepted. me. No. word. from. Boston. University. yet."

"I, ah, haven't seen a lot of you the last few weeks," Drakken commented lamely. Neither girl had been out at Lipsky and Load since the breakup of Joss and Wade. "You're not interested in MIT?" he asked Bego.

"The. fact. Joss. is. interested. does. not. mean. I. am. interested. I. may. major. in. philosophy. The. question. of. the. intersection. between. mind. and. brain. fascinates. me. since. I. have. a. mind, but. do. not. possess. a. brain. in. the--"

"First time I've ever heard a girl admit she didn't have a brain," Jim snorted.

"Then. there. are. boys. who. possess. neither. brains. nor. minds," Bego shot back. "As. Descartes. said. _I. think_. therefore. _I. am_."

"Sounds like we need to debate whether Jim exists or not," Joss laughed.

"What's the housing sitch?" Tim asked, hoping to steer the conversation back onto peaceful ground

"Lousy," Joss said. "We don't have to live on campus if'n we find an apartment with a sister who goes to a different school."

"But. the. cost. of. rent. is. terrible! How. can. people. afford. to. live. there?"

"Sounds like it's going to be tight."

"Yeah," Joss sighed. "Daddy didn't budget for two more kids in college."

"I. don't. think. he. wanted. to. give. anything. towards. college. for. me. But. Joss. said. we. would. share. any. money. Harvard. has. a. great. financial. aid. package. if. I. can. get. in."

"Or we end up with part time jobs askin', 'You want fries with that?'."

In a lull between topics of conversation Bego worked up the courage to ask about something which troubled her. "Doc? Wade? Could. the. two. of. you. look. at. my. speech. synthesizer. before. I. leave. for. college? I. would. like. to. be. able. to. ask. questions. in. class. without. sounding. like. a. cheap. answering. machine."

"Doesn't Dr. Porter work with--" Wade began.

"Dr. Porter. has. been. trying. to. give. me. a. sense. of. smell. and. to. improve. my. tactile. sensations. My. voice. does. not. bother. her, but. it. bothers. me. Please?"

Drakken shrugged, "The designs changed a lot over the years. I used cheap components on some parts of the original design. I didn't think speech represented an important function and--"

"Joss. and. I. have. meant. to. ask. about. what. you. considered. important. given. the. occasional. anatomical. detail. in. my. construction."

Wade's stomach tightened in a knot, but Drakken came through for him. "The Doombots were for size and strength. At one point I attempted Bebes who could pass for human on close examination--"

"How. closely. did. you. think. people. would. be. examining?"

"And just how much anatomical detail do you have?" Jim asked.

Bego changed the topic, to the relief of everyone but Jim.

* * *

**Day 15**

Expediency and cash entered into the formal arrangements for the study of the spacecraft. Egypt maintained the title to the discovery and everything on the ship, but realized the cost of study would likely run into the tens of millions and take years. The United Nations would fund the project, with an Egyptian recognized as the formal head of the project and Egypt being allowed to name scientists to the examining committee and to veto UN appointees. Global Justice would provide security. The location for the center for studying the alien technology would be decided later.

A case of good champagne and two press photographers arrived in camp with the news. The photographers took dozens of shots of the Egyptian officers and Kim and Will offering toasts to each other. The good humor was not all for the press either, both sides seemed relieved to have a practical solution to the potential problem. Leslie Atwood-Long and the other Global Justice agents made it into a number of photos, and the two photographers even managed to bribe the Egyptian sentries into letting them take pictures of the site. National Geographic would not be happy, but the law suit didn't begin until long after Kim was home.

* * *

The BBC had told the world of the development before the champagne even reached the base camp. "Lipsky and Load going to write up a prospectus for the UN?" Tim asked.

"Maybe," Wade told him.

"You're not so vain that you think they're going to come knocking on our door looking for us, are you?" Jim demanded.

"One should always be hesitant about predicting the future," Drakken remarked. "The idea that I'd be in the desert with four Possibles?"

Tim and Joss laughed "True 'nuff," Joss said. "But you should still let 'em know what you can do."

"No point," Jim grumbled. "Things been sitting there so long its just junk inside. We're better off just doing new work than trying to figure out a pile of rust."

"Whatever produced that field kept working," Wade reminded him. "Might be the answer to all our energy needs."

"Might be carcinogenic, or emit more carbon dioxide than burning the Amazon basin."

* * *

Uncertainty over what would happen with the technology had caused a little tension between the Egyptians and Global Justice, but with the issue resolved everyone pitched in with renewed effort to crate up everything which could be moved.

The machines Ron turned off were viewed as special prizes. Getting them loose, when none of the tools found on the ship were meant for human hands, had proved difficult, and hauling them out even more difficult. A lot of jokes were made about people understanding what it took to build the pyramids as muscles creaked and the crates slowly made it out of the ship and down the trail (which seemed narrower and bumpier than it had just a couple hours earlier) to the camp.

The vantage points for the Americans only allowed them to watch part of the process.

"Glad we didn't need to try and haul that sucker out ourselves," Sneezy remarked.

"Looks like our job is just about over. A couple days and we should be out of here," Donner told them.

"Hallelujah," Shego commented.

"And us?" Joseph asked.

"Like I said, you're not coming with us. I'll leave you plenty of water, maps, and we've got GPS working now. Can you get out the way you came in?"

"Through the Egyptian lines?" Misha muttered.

"Hey, you never told us how you got in," Donner pointed out. "I remember the map showing a village to the north. You should be able to reach it without any problems."

* * *

**Day 16**

By mid-afternoon the Egyptians and Global Justice breathed a sigh of relief. They had crated up all the small and medium sized artifacts from the ship, and tomorrow would be able to start transferring them out of the desert. The spaceship itself, along with its long-broken engine and some of the larger mechanisms would come later. The Egyptians would keep military units on the site for the time being. The terrain would make it difficult to bring in heavy equipment. The absence of much of the contents make it a less attractive target for thieves, along with Egypt's willingness to share the knowledge gained from the discovery with the world. Will guessed the ship would eventually have to be cut into pieces to make transport easier. Kim wondered if blimps or other lighter than air craft could be used to lift it out in one piece.

Ron left work on the ship early. Abdul and the mess crew prepared a special dinner to celebrate the end of the mission. Hamaam, pigeons, would be served and stuffing the birds with seasoned rice and grilling them took much of the afternoon. Ron wondered whether he should warn Kim and the other Global Justice agents that Abdul put the heads in the stuffing to add a little extra flavor as the birds cooked.

To show Ron how much he trusted the young man, Abdul assigned two assistants to Ron and put him in charge of making the fatir. Ron figured he'd just tell the GJ agents they were stuffed pancakes. Most were filled with fruits and honey or eggs, or a cheese mixture, but Ron did a little experimenting with some non-traditional stuffings which brought tears of joy to the eyes of the Egyptian cook. "You, Jew-boy," Abdul said in broken English, "You got Egyptian heart." He thumped his chest with his fist, then grabbed Ron and kissed him on both cheeks again.

Ron didn't care for the kissing thing, but when the cook released him Ron suggested, "Maybe Abdul has Jewish heart?"

The old cook grinned and shrugged, and everyone in the mess crew laughed at the joke.

The dinner was marvelous. Everyone was in a wonderful mood. Even the soldiers who would remain in the field couldn't object. The hard work was done and a solid supply line had been established.

Even Agent Haskell seemed in a good mood, preparing plates of food to take out to the sentries.

"While I would very much like to believe Agent Haskell has experienced a change in attitude I fear his current behavior only reflects a euphoria over the end of the mission," Will remarked.

Kim and LaTisha both agreed with him

A minute later Kim found the pigeon's head in the stuffing. Her expression made Ron's silence worthwhile.

* * *

In the American camp Donner celebrated, "Well, we start back tomorrow."

"About time," Shego grumbled, "these last days were a complete waste. They've got an army unit out there! What in the hell were we supposed to do if something large enough to take them on attacked?"

"You'd be surprised what a handful of people can accomplish," he told her. He pulled a bottle from his bag. "I was saving this for a celebration if we found it first. How about a little celebration of the fact the mission is just about over?"

"I'll drink to that," she agreed.

* * *

Lethargy fell on the Egyptian camp like a blanket. No one seemed able stay awake. Even the sentries staggered in, most making it to their tents before falling asleep. Everyone was too caught up with his or her own need for rest to even notice the actions of others.

_"Emotional exhaustion,"_ Kim told herself. She barely managed to get the zipper closed on the tent before falling asleep. Ron was already snoring.

A single figure moved through the Egyptian camp, checking for gas flames left on in the mess area or other potential dangers.

* * *

Shego and Donner killed almost half the small bottle. Shego didn't usually drink that much, but it still didn't seem excessive. Still, Shego found herself becoming unexpectedly sleepy.

"Clean living's gonna kill me," she muttered.

"Something wrong?"

"So tired. Don't drink… much aroun' Kim… an' girls… I…"

"Been a long mission, we're all tired," Donner told her. "Why don't you just lie down and go to sleep. Tomorrow it's all over with."

"Souns good," Shego mumbled, heading for the tent.

Donner closed the zipper for her, she had passed out before she could complete the task. Then he went to the edge of the US camp and threw up. The antidote he'd taken to counteract the drug in the liquor made him sick. He felt delight he had managed to control the nausea until Shego passed out, and regret at what he needed to do -- the two of them had started to, if not respect each other, at least tolerate each other.


	11. Day 17: Eureka III

Boilerplate Disclaimer: Disney owns the characters from the Kim Possible series.

**Day 17: Eureka III**

Shego awoke with a foul taste in her mouth. Too groggy to think she spit and tried to move - discovering she was bound.

She heard Donner's voice, "The groggy feeling passes in about fifteen minutes."

It took effort, but she moved her head toward the sound and focused her eyes.

"Cash," he said, putting a thick roll of bills down in the tent. Various other items joined the pile, "First aid kit - four anti-venoms each for yellow scorpion and Egyptian cobra. Map, GPS… Water is in the usual spot, may be some left at the old camp too. Take the Russians to Cairo. Need a pistol?"

She shook her head no, which made it hurt worse.

He held up two vials. "Antidote for the sleep drug. The Russians are out. Pour this in their mouths and in a couple minutes they feel just like you do now."

"Kim…" Shego managed to groan.

"They're all sleeping peacefully. Another two to four hours before they wake up. I advise you to get the hell out of here before that. Hundred and fifty grand for you escorting the Russians. Tell them --"

The roar of huge engines filled the tent.

"That's my ride. Gotta run. See you in the US!" he called over his shoulder as he left.

"Son of a…" but Donner had gone. It might take an average person fifteen minutes to recover from the groggy feeling, and longer to free themselves from the ropes. Shego and Team Go had faced nastier slime than Donner - although at the moment Shego considered Donner the lowest scum on earth. The survival of the family had depended on Hego or Shego recovering faster than their enemies expected and coming out fighting.

If any jury knew what she'd been through they would rule it justifiable homicide. Or maybe the government would simply cover it up to keep the mission out of the papers.

She pulled a small knife from its boot sheath and managed to free her legs, she headed out of the tent before getting her arms free.

She stumbled down the short path from the hidden camp to the valley and arrived in time to see Donner climb into one of the two Rostvertol Mi-26s sitting in the valley. On a better day, when Kim's safety wasn't her only thought, she might have smiled that the US used Russian helicopters rather than the US C-130 Hercules. The Mi-26 had a slightly better lifting capacity, but Shego would have suspected irony or deception as the reason.

Shego rested against a boulder and waited for her head to clear. She swore as the helicopters lifted off. She wanted to visit the large encampment and check on Kim's safety, but part of her realized she could do nothing and Donner wouldn't have let her live if anyone had died in the Egyptian camp. She should wake the Russians and get out like Donner said.

The helicopters rose higher than Shego expected. She figured they'd head east, below radar range. Instead they rose high enough for radar to detect. As Shego wondered what it meant a figure flew out of the side hatch as if thrown. Donner, his hands tied behind him, wiggled in the air for a second until, with a jerk, he hit the end of his static line and a parachute blossomed above him. As Donner descended toward the ground other figures, all bound, were tossed from the two choppers and more 'chutes deployed in the desert air.

Five seconds after Donner hit the ground Shego's knife was at his throat, "Houston, we've got a problem," she said softly.

"They're safe! Swear to God, they're all safe!"

She stood and used her foot to roll him over, then slashed the tape holding his arms.

"You'd better pray to God they're safe. Let's get the others. What happened?"

They moved towards the nearest figure.

"I was grabbed and slammed against the side of the chopper the second I got on. Never even saw what hit me."

Donner slit the restraints on Sleepy as he spoke to Shego. The Marine rubbed his wrists. "Wasn't much to see," Sleepy grunted. "I swear, a kid… Maybe a girl, but I'm not sure… You got a little sister?" he asked Shego.

"No, I--"

They were now by Grumpy, who interrupted the conversation, "We didn't know Dopey was going to drug you!"

"You didn't?"

"No, we didn't," the SEAL told her. "Son-of-a-bitch didn't tell us a thing until the meeting last night. Explained we'd be loading choppers this morning. I asked about you and he told us."

Shego wasn't whether to believe him or not. "You two, free the others," Shego told Sleepy and Grumpy. "Dopey and I are going to have a little private chat."

Donner was sweating hard, and it wasn't from the heat, when Shego pulled him to one side.

"It's my job. Nobody was hurt! I--"

"You claim nobody got hurt. First, anything happens to Kim and you're a walking dead man. Got that?"

Donner nodded.

"Good. Second, you and the boys are hiking out of here too. You've got a clear trail. Leave me enough water to get the Russians out - we don't know our way. That hundred and fifty grand? Tax free trust fund for the twins' education."

"No tax? I can't--"

He backed down under her glare. "Okay, if the IRS can do it for millionaires there's gotta be a way."

"Just one more thing and you can go," she told him.

Donner looked puzzled. "One more thing?"

"Three little words - you know them."

He flushed with anger, "I won't."

"Yes, you will," she said coldly.

Donner backed down, "I'm your bitch."

"Louder!"

"That was loud enough."

"I want these guys to hear it. I want it loud enough they'd hear it in the Global Justice camp."

"I won't! I--" She took a step toward him, "I'M YOUR BITCH!" He screamed.

"Remember that. And you ever call me for a mission again and don't tell me _everything_ up front I'll rip out your liver and make you eat it."

"We got to get out of here. Two to four hours and the Egyptians and Global Justice folk start waking up. They may even have planes up before that, looking for us."

It was one of the hardest decisions Shego had made, but with the others she headed back to camp instead of checking on Kim's safety. She woke the Russians as the others divided up supplies and buried everything they didn't want to take. At the east entrance to the valley they collected some water that hadn't been taken in. Then the US group and two pilots headed east and Shego and her two charges turned north.

* * *

Drakken finished his call to the Egyptian government and handed the radio to Wade. "We need to take off the cloak. Fighter jets are coming to escort us. Don't want them running into the hovercraft accidentally."

Wade nodded and flipped the switch. Jim, piloting the closer chopper, waved. The young black man surrendered the controls to Drakken, returned Jim's wave and established communications with Global Justice.

Betty Director's face looked distinctly unhappy in the monitor, "All right," she barked, "What in the hell is going on?"

"It appears you owe us for the insurance we provided."

"That doesn't answer my question!"

"Last night someone drugged your agents and the Egyptians--"

"Drugged?"

"Something to make them sleep. We--"

"Are they all right?" Dr. Director demanded.

"We went in after we realized what had happened… Everyone appears to be sleeping. We don't know what it was, but the Egyptians have medical doctors headed out." Wade hesitated a second. "We think someone in the camp did it. Looked like they'd checked things for safety--"

"If I find out this was some Lipsky and Load plot and you drugged my people I'll--"

"Honest, Dr. Director. It wasn't us."

"If it wasn't you, who was it?"

"We don't know. Muslim brotherhood? Russians? I mean; a lot of people wanted to look at that."

"Including the US. Are you covering anything up?"

"Of course not!"

"Well, we'll know for certain. You have prisoners?"

"Uh, well, about that… We…"

"Where are the people from the helicopters?"

"Catch and release."

"Catch and release?"

"Yeah, put parachutes on them and threw them overboard."

On the monitor Betty rubbed her left hand over her face in exasperation.

"Come on," Wade insisted. "There were nine or ten of them. We only have two people on each helicopter - and one of them has to pilot. You want one of us watch a whole bunch of prisoners? Something's going to go wrong."

Betty's voice took a brittle tone, "Please tell me you kept one prisoner for interrogation."

"Well," Wade lied, "I think I asked either Joss or Bego to keep one."

"You think?"

"We'll know when we hit Cairo… Hold on - Egyptian escort just arrived."

Pilots in the Egyptian planes returned the waves of Wade and Drakken, then assumed formation around the helicopters and hovercraft.

Wade returned to the radio. "I believe our contingency contract was for two million?"

The sound of Betty Director grinding her teeth came over the radio. "That's right. _If_ you _aided_ in the mission--"

"Well, I certainly think that under the circumstances we have more than fulfilled--"

"Swear to God, we'll investigate this. If you were part of it I'll nail all your asses to the floor."

"Please," Wade assured her in a soothing voice, "my partner and I are businessmen with an interest in this project. Kim and Ron are our friends, we play poker with Will and have met some others. We'd do nothing to jeopardize their safety."

Dr. Director took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "If you're telling me the truth I owe you more than money, I owe you thanks. But with your partner's history I'm going to have to check."

"Absolutely. We'll admit trying to get there first - wanted to get in on the ground floor of the research. We're hoping our help will get us a job working on the materials."

Betty hesitated, "If you're really clean I'll recommend you."

"Thank you. We'll talk later. Oh, we suggest an isolated island somewhere for research."

After turning off the radio Wade stared vacantly at the chopper carrying Jim and Joss.

"The press will be out in force when we arrive," Drakken commented after a few minutes.

"That's for sure," Wade chuckled. Then he grew serious, "Doc? I'd like to divide the two million from the UN between the Possibles. I--"

"The million we're getting from Egypt probably won't cover expenses! Zita will skin us alive if we do that!"

"No, come on, think of the publicity! We're going to be on every television and radio station tonight - the covers of every newspaper and magazine in the world tomorrow. We'll have so many people wanting to hire us we'll have to turn away business. Zita will be nothing but happy."

"Zita is a dangerous woman... Why don't I know any safe women?"

"C'mon, we get the best deal of all out of this. Egypt may put us in charge. We'll have the greatest scientists in the world begging to work for us. You'll start getting honorary doctorates--"

"You think so?"

"Positive," Wade answered. "Besides, Jim and Tim deserve some profit. Destruction Inc. almost counts as a hobby, they get no money from it."

"Talk with Zita, their expenses are incredible," Drakken grumbled, "And what do Bego and Joss… This is about Joss, isn't it? You trying to buy her back?"

"I don't know what to do, Doc."

"If she thinks it's your idea she won't take it. The whole family is stupidly proud."

Wade considered punching Drakken for using the word stupid in the same sentence as a reference to Joss's family. "There's got to be some way…"

"Scholarships! Lipsky and Load fellows… There might even be a tax break there for us."

Wade grinned, "You're still an evil genius."

"Thank you."

Wade's question led him to another thought, "Can I ask a personal question?"

Drakken hesitated, "You can ask. I may not answer."

"When did you realize you were a villain?"

"I'm not sure," the blue man replied slowly. "I was so much smarter than everyone else. I thought I'd be doing the world a favor if I took over. I didn't need to obey the rules - they didn't apply to geniuses."

"Now you're really scaring me."

"How?"

"You were going to take over the world--"

"It would be better off."

"People would have been hurt!"

"You can't make an omelet without breaking legs."

"I've done things--" Wade began.

"Don't be silly, my boy," Drakken interrupted, "you're one of the heroes."

"I'm serious."

"You and Joss?" He didn't know exactly what had happened.

Wade sighed, "That... and other things. Things I don't want to tell anyone about. Things I shouldn't have done. Shego told me to see a therapist, try and work through my problems. Think Innsmouth would take me?"

"If you really--"

"I'm going to get her back, Doc. I'm going to do whatever it takes to be the man she deserves."

* * *

Ron woke up first. "Kim?" He shook her shoulder gently, but she didn't awaken. She appeared fine, just deeply asleep. He staggered out of the tent, uncertain how everyone could still be slumbering. He felt thirsty and headed for the mess area. He almost had the cup to his lips before he awoke enough to realize it was a bad idea and poured out the water.

He radioed in, and found doctors were on their way with fresh food and water. But even the news the alien artifacts were safe felt hollow. Kim and Will would take it as a failure, Ron hoped they didn't try to blame each other. And Ron knew he and the cooks would come under investigation, but he couldn't imagine any of them did it. The mess area was open to everyone in camp. But the sentries hadn't seen any outsiders - it had to be an inside job.

* * *

**Epilogue:**

Three days later, in the mid-morning, three dusty figures emerged from the desert. The woman called, "Anybody here speak English?"

Ibrahim the Dreamer answered, "I can."

"Drink, ask him if there is anything to drink," Joseph urged Shego.

"Ask him yourself," she snapped, "we're partners in getting out, remember?"

"You need water, yes?" the boy asked.

"We need water, no," the Russian told him. "Got any beer?"

"My aunt has, at her shop."

Misha looked at Shego, "You have the money."

"Hell," Shego grunted. "Let's see if she's got six cold ones." She turned to Ibrahim, "Can you show us her shop? And we need to get to Cairo. Bus? Train? Boat? What are our choices? Can I hire you as translator 'til we're out of this dump?"

"You might need a translator all the way to Cairo," the teen pointed out. "Fortunately, effendi, I am temporarily between positions and available for hire."

"The beer," Joseph reminded her, keeping his priorities straight.

"We'll talk at your aunt's shop," Shego told the boy.

"There is a bus to Asyut tomorrow," Ibrahim informed them. "Then you can take a plane to Cairo."

"We, uh, lost our passports in the desert," Shego reported.

"The train might be easiest. But you will need someone to translate the schedule." He quoted a price four times more than he hoped to receive for going with them.

* * *

Joss and Bego arrived home in time for final exams. Everyone but Megan seemed happy about their return. The reserved Hang even gave them both hugs. Erin appeared happier with the news that Jim and Tim were back also. When Tara's little sister called the twins, however, she was informed that Zita had them, along with Drakken and Wade, chained to work stations in the lab. Based on what the brothers had told her about Zita, Erin wondered if she should take that literally.

--The End--

* * *


End file.
